NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES
3 3433 06730173 3
Jfflen of Jlark in Georgia
A Complete and Elaborate History of the State from its settlement
to the present time, chiefly told in biographies and auto-
biographies of the most eminent men of each
period of Georgia's progress and
development
Cfciteb fap
^tlitam 3f. J^ortfjen
of Georgia
HON. J. C. c. BLACK
HON. W. G. BRANTLEY
HON. ALLEN FORT
HON. DUPONTGUERRY
HON. W. M. HAMMOND
HON. WALTER B. HILL
HON. G. GUNBY JORDAN
HON. P. W. MELDRIM
HON. W. J. NORTHEN
HON. HOKE SMITH
HON. J. M. TERRELL
HON. MOSES WRIGHT
Mustrateb
Historical Sntrobuctorp bp
temple <^rabes, (ZEbitor
Volume U
. %. Calbtocll,
Atlanta, Georgia
1910
THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY
454050A
A8POR,LBHOX AND
T1LDEN FOUNDATIONS
ft 1990 I*
COPYRIGHTED, 1910, BY
A. B. CALDWELL.
EDWARDS <* BHOUGHTON PRINTING CO., RALEIGH, N. C.
Cable of Contents
A complete index of all the volumes of this work will be found at the
end of Volume VI.
PAGE.
ABBOTT, JOEL 12
ADAMS, DAVID 15
ANDREW, JAMES OSGOOD 17
ALFORD, JULIUS C. . . . 48
ANTHONY, MILTON . . ... . 51
APPLING, DANIEL 53
BANKS, RICHARD . . 81
BARRETT, THOMAS SAMUEL 91
BARNETT, WILLIAM 83
BEMAN, CARLISLE POLLOCK .95
BERRIEN, JOHN MAcPHERSON ... .... 140
BIBB, W7ILLIAM WYATT 145
BLACK, EDWARD J 148
BLACKSHEAR, DAVID 168
BRYAN, JOSEPH 442
BULLOCH, WILLIAM BELLINGER 172
BUTTS, SAMUEL 174
CAMPBELL, DUNCAN G 223
CANDLER, WILLL1M 282
CAREY, GEORGE 443
CHAPPEL, ABSALOM HARRIS . . 285
CHARLTON, ROBERT MILLEDGE . 295
CHARLTON, THOMAS USHER PULASKI 298
CHURCH, ALONZO 300
CLAYTON, AUGUSTIN SMITH 309
CLARKE, JOHN ' . . . . . .163
CLINCH, DUNCAN LAMONT 312
COBB, HOWELL 443
COBB, THOMAS WILLIS ......... 322
COFFEE, JOHN 178
COLQUITT, WALTER TERRY 193
CONE FAMILY, THE 196
COOPER, MARK ANTHONY 207
COOK, ZADOCK 444
COUPER, JAMES HAMILTON 215
CRAWFORD, GEORGE WALKER 229
CRAWFORD, JOEL 279
CRAWFORD, NATHANIEL MACON 332
CRAWFORD, WILLIAM HARRIS 1
CUTHBERT, ALFRED 235
iv TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE.
CUTHBERT, JOHN A . .243
DABNEY, AUSTIN . .232
DAWSON, WILLIAM CROSBY . . .248
DENT, WILLIAM B. .444
DOOLY, JOHN MITCHELL 324_
DOUGHERTY, CHARLES .330
DURHAM, LINDSAY .345
EARLY, PETER .353
ECHOLS, ROBERT M. 21
ELLIOTT, JOHN . 352
ELLIOTT, STEPHEN .349
FEW, IGNATIUS ALPHONSO .... . 362
FORSYTH, JOHN .289
FORT, TOMLINSON . 372
FOSTER, ALBERT G 432
FOSTER, NATHANIEL GREENE .431
FOSTER, THOMAS FLOURNOY . 23
GAMBLE, ROGER LAWSON .... .... 25
GILMER, GEORGE ROCKINGHAM 26
GLASCOCK, THOMAS . .120
GOULD, WILLIAM TRACY . 85
GOULD, JAMES GARDNER .... .... 89
GORDON, WILLIAM WASHINGTON . . . 30
GOULDING, FRANCIS ROBERT . . . .93
GRANTLAND, SEATON .... . . .100
GRIEVE, MILLER . .104
HABERSHAM, RICHARD W. . . 106
HALL, BOLLING - .... . .445
HARALSON, HUGH ANDERSON . . . .34
HARRIS, CHARLES .... . .32
HARRIS, FRANCIS H. . . .107
HART, NANCY .111
HAWKINS, BENJAMIN .... .122
HAYNES, CHARLES .... .445
HILLYER, JUNIUS .357
HULL, HOPE . . .... .336
IVERSON, ALFRED, SR . 339
JACKSON, JABEZ ... .446
JACK, JAMES 1 . . . .446
JACKSON, JOSEPH W. . . .341
JOHNSON, HERSCHEL VESPASIAN . . 396
JONES, JOHN .... .128
JONES, SEABORN .... .236
JONES, GEORGE .... .342
JONES, JAMES .... .360
KING, THOMAS BUTLER 365
TABLE OF CONTENTS v
PAGE.
LAMAR, HENRY G 442
LONG, CRAWFORD W 131
LONG, NICHOLAS 446
LOVE, PETER E. 447
LONGSTREET, AUGUSTUS BALDWIN 264
LUMPKIN, JOSEPH HENRY 302
LUMPKIN, JOHN HENRY 308
LUMPKIN, WILSON . . .315
MEAD, COWLES ... 448
MEANS, ALEXANDER 108
MEIGS, JOSIAH . 37
MERCER, JESSE . ^ ... 40
MERIWETHER, DAVID 56
MERIWETHER, JAMES . ... . 448
MERIWETHER, JAMES A. .... .63
MITCHELL, DAVID BRYDIE . . . .183
MILLEN, JOHN ... . . .130
MILLER, ANDREW JACKSON .137
MILTON, JOHN . . ... .... 181
MURRAY, THOMAS W ' 187
MCDONALD, CHARLES JAMES 64
McINTOSH, JAMES SIMMONS 69
McINTOSH, WILLIAM ... . . ... 73
OWEN, ALLEN F. . 448
OWENS, GEORGE W. . ... . 449
PIERCE, LOVICK . 76
PRINCE, OLIVER HILLHOUSE ... .... 79
RABUN, WILLIAM 384
RAY, JOHN ...... 190
REID, ROBERT RAYMOND 160
SANDERS, BILLINGTON McCARTER . ... 202
SANFORD, SHELTON PALMER 204
SCHLEY, WILLIAM . 370
SCREVEN, JAMES PROCTOR . 226
SHORTER, ALFRED . .381
SHERWOOD, ADIEL . 246
SMELT, DENNIS . ... 449
SPALDING, THOMAS 253
STILES, WILLIAM HENRY ... 256
STOCKS, THOMAS .259
TALBOT, MATTHEW 273
TALIAFERRO, BENJAMIN . . ... 276
TALMAGE, SAMUEL KENNEDY 278
TAIT, CHARLES 262
TELFAIR, THOMAS . . . . . 449
TERRELL, WILLIAM . 377
vi TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE.
THOMAS, JETT .... ... 378
THOMPSON, WYLIE . . 450
TOWNS, GEORGE WASHINGTON 399
TEOUP, CHARLES MICHAEL . . 433
TWIGGS, DAVID EMANUEL .... ... 409
UPSON, STEPHEN 406
WADDELL, MOSES 389
WALDHAUER, JACOB CASPER . . . . . . .412
WALKER, FREEMAN .... 403
WARD, JOHN ELLIOT .... ... 421
WARE, NICHOLAS ... .... .425
WARREN, LOTT 450
WAYNE, JAMES MOORE . . . . \ . . .426
WHITE, GEORGE \ . .416
WILCOX, MARK . .... .429
WILDE, RICHARD HENRY 151
WILLIAMSON, MICAJAH .... .... 157
iUap of Sntrobuctton.
o
THE period between 1784 and 1860 represents the Golden
Age of Georgia History. The State may now be richer in
material things, and with natural growth may far surpass
in educational advantages, and in the conveniences of modern
life, the period referred to, but it can never hope to reach again
conditions under which so large a percentage of the people will
live in a state of great content and at the same time of vigorous
growth and ideal democracy.
During that Golden Age, absolute peace reigned among the
people; a population entirely homogeneous developed a democ-
racy of a very pure type. None had overgrown fortunes, none
were distressed by extreme poverty. Land was plentiful and
cheap. The masters were kindly optimists, and the slaves, even
greater optimists, showed in their appearance the evidences of
the best care. When wars came, the Georgians were as ready
to shed their blood in defense of the Republic as their ancestors
of 1775.
There were no telephones, no automobiles, but few railroads,
and these late in the period. The sending of a telegram was a
serious matter. Street cars in the towns were unknown. Peo-
ple trusted their own legs for short distances, and their faithful
horses for long ones. Newspapers were comparatively few, but
those existing wielded tremendous influence. Books were scarce,
high in price, and thoroughly well read. Public schools had
no existence.
A rude age, our readers will say.
But that age produced a number of men of the first rank, so
large that it is doubtful if in all history one can find where an
equal number of people turned out so many great men in differ-
ent walks of life, and possessed of so vast range of knowledge,
from that of the scientific farmer to the trained statesman, or
the humanitarian discoverer of invaluable remedies in medical
science. Soldiers and sailors ; statesmen and jurists ; farmers
and mechanics ; railroad builders and land developers ; doctors
viii INTRODUCTION
and preachers ; teachers and editors ; in that seventy-five years
Georgia contributed a galaxy of rninds as bright, of souls as
noble, of patriots as pure, and of citizens as useful, as ever have
iii-icvd jinv nation or state of equal size in such a length of time.
There were some characteristics of the public men of the
period so notable and so admirable, that it would be plain neg-
lect of duty on our part did we fail to call attention to them.
In the first place, no man in Georgia was too big to serve his
State in the General Assembly, and cheerfully responded when
called on, regardless of personal sacrifices. In the next place,
the public men preferred to serve the State rather than the
Federal government, when there arose the necessity for a de-
cision as to which position they must take.
Again, the reader of the history of that time is almost startled
at the immense number of resignations by Georgia Congressmen
and Senators between 1800 and 1860. Investigation shows
that these resignations were most creditable. When the Georgia
Congressman or Senator found himself out of touch with his
constituents on a public question, he instantly resigned ; if legis-
lation that in his judgment was detrimental to the public wel-
fare was passed over his head, he resigned rather than to appear
to endorse it by remaining in office ; when after election his
convictions upon a public matter changed, he resigned first, then
Hibmitted the matter to his constituents, and if they saw it as
he did they sent him back. Whether calling themselves Whigs
or Democrats, they were strenuous believers in democratic theo-
ries of government, and felt that a representative should be
truly representative of his people. It is almost needless to say
that with such representatives Georgia was well served and held
high rank in the councils of the nation. A saddening feature
of the time is the number of useful lives cut short in their prime
by acute attacks, as often doctors were a long way off and not
easily procurable.
In the following pages is made as faithful a record of many
of the excellent and useful citizens of that period as available
records and oral information authorizes.
2 MEN OF MARK
French, and Philosophy. The last year he was an usher in the
school and received for his services one-third of the tuition
money. In 1796 the young man went to Augusta in the hope of
securing such knowledge as would fit him for a profession. He
obtained a situation in the Richmond Academy, where he re-
mained in the dual character of student and instructor until the
year 1798, when he was appointed rector of that institution.
During his residence in Augusta he studied law and was ad-
mitted to practice.
In the spring of 1799 he removed to Oglethorpe and entered
upon the practice of his profession at Lexington in what was
then called the Western and was later known as the Northern
Circuit. His industry and talents soon attracted the notice of
Peter Early, at that time one of the foremost statesmen and
great lawyers of the State, and a warm friendship sprang up
between the veteran lawyer and the ambitious youth. He forged
to the front as a lawyer so rapidly that when in 1802 Mr. Early
was elected to Congress, Mr. Crawford became practically the
head of the bar in his circuit. Such a man as William H.
Crawford could not have kept out of public life, even if he had
so desired, and Oglethorpe county sent him for four years to
act as its representative in the legislature. In these four years
he made such reputation as a public man that in 1807, at the
age of thirty-five, he was elected to the United States Senate
to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of the great and good
Abraham Baldwin. He completed that term and in 1811 was
reelected without opposition, and served until 1813. In these
six years he gained so rapidly in reputation that he was recog-
nized by the leaders at Washington as one of the strong men of
the Nation, and in 1813 was tendered the office of Secretary of
War by President Madison. This position he declined, and
he was then tendered the position of Minister to France. He
accepted this tender and resigned from the United States Senate,
and filled the position of Minister to France for two years, from
April, 1813, to April, 1815. He made a profound impression
on the great Emperor Napoleon, who said later that he was the
WILLIAM HARRIS CRAWFORD 3
only man that he ever felt constrained to bow to when first pre-
sented to him, and that he was the ablest man he ever met. On
his return from France in 1815 he found that he had been ap-
pointed Secretary of War, and served a few months in this ca-
pacity. In October following he was made Secretary of the
Treasury by President Madison, and during that winter was
strongly solicited to allow his name to be put in nomination for
the presidency. This he declined, because he was yet a young
man comparatively and did not care to antagonize Mr. Monroe.
Notwithstanding his declination and the absence of a number of
his strongest and most intimate friends, who refused to attend
Avhen the caucus was held, out of the one hundred and nineteen
votes cast fifty-four of them went to Crawford and sixty-five to
Monroe. It was believed at the time that if Mr. Crawford had
consented to allow his name to be presented that he would have
been nominated without difficulty. Mr. Monroe came to the
presidency in 1817 and asked Mr. Crawford to retain the treas-
ury portfolio, which he did, and held it during Monroe's two
terms, which expired in 1825. When the election came on to-
ward the close of Monroe's second term Mr. Crawford was a
candidate, but a paralytic stroke received about that time so
disabled him that a combination made against him by other
candidates was able to defeat him, and John Quincy Adams
was chosen President. President Adams promptly tendered
the treasury portfolio to him, but after nearly nine years of
service in that position under two presidents, and years of very
hard service they had been, with his impaired health Mr. Craw--
ford felt unequal to the duties and returned to Georgia.
In 1827, after the death of Judge Dooly, Governor Troup
appointed Mr. Crawford Judge of the Northern Circuit. In
those days the position of a circuit judge in Georgia was one of
great honor and dignity, and Mr. Crawford did not hesitate to
accept. In 1828 the Legislature elected him to the same office
without opposition, and three years later, though there was n
candidate against him, he was ao-ain elected on the first ballot.
o / o
He died while serving this last term and in the active discharge
4 MEN OF MAEK
of the duties of the office. He set out from home on his way to
«/
court on Saturday, was taken ill that night at the house of a
friend, Mr. Valentine Meriwether, near Elberton, and died at
2 o'clock on the succeeding Monday morning. His physicians
were of the opinion that his disease was an affection of the
heart, and he died apparently without pain. He was buried
at Woodlawn, the family seat, now known as Crawford, with
no one near him Imt a little grandson of two years, who had
preceded him by about fifteen month*.
Such is a brief outline of the life of this remarkable man.
It is proper, however, to take up in more detail certain phases
of his character and certain occurrences of his life.
Cratoforfc Jfamtlp.
The Crawford family is of Scotch origin and has an honor-
able history in that country for the past seven hundred year*.
The seat of the family was in county Lanark. The mother of
the great hero of Scotland, William Wallace, was a Crawford
of the Lanark familv. In America the Crawfords seem to have
«/
settled in Virginia in the earlier days, and from there in the
Revolutionary period of our history, several branches of the
family migrated to Georgia. During the nineteenth century
at least four members of the family won great distinction in
Georgia. George W. Crawford was a Congressman, cabinet min-
ister and Governor of Georgia. Joel Crawford was a lawyer,
soldier, planter and Congressman. Martin J. Crawford was a
lawyer, a judge. Congressman, and later a Congressman in the
Confederacy, and ;i.<jain a judge after the Civil War. In addi-
tion to these was William H. Crawford, the greatest of them
all. They were all of the same ancestry in Virginia and were
all cousins in some degree.
Appearance anb Character.
William H. Crawford was a man of most imposing appear-
ance. Lie w:i< MX feet three inches in height, of large build,
muscular and well proportioned. Hi* contemporaries state
WILLIAM HARRIS CRAWFORD 5
that his head and face were remarkably striking in appearance
and impressed every one who met him with the belief that he
must possess more than ordinary powers of intellect. He was
of fair complexion and, until late in life, ruddy. His features
indicated firmness and perseverance. His eyes were clear blue
and mild, though bright. He was affable in deportment, erect
and manly in his gait, but never ostentatious. Profoundly dem-
ocratic in his beliefs, he abhorred show and vulgar display. On
one occasion late in life he stated that during his entire life he
had never met but two dandies who were men of real ability,
and he took little thought of personal raiment beyond the neces-
sity of neatness and cleanliness. He was warm in his attach-
ments and vehement in his resentments, prompt to repel insults
and equally prompt to forgive when an appeal was made to his
clemency. No personal labor was too great for him and his
perseverance was remarkable. jSTo unsuccessful appeal was
ever made upon his charity. Entirely free from penuriousness
and generous in money matters, he yet lived a life of simplicity,
and most cordially disliked extravagance in dress or in living
<Ht tije
Mr. Crawford's success as a lawyer was almost phenomenal.
Through the mischances of early life he was rather late in get-
ting into practice, but his success was immediate. This was
due, first, to his thorough preparation of his cases. He mastered
a case before he went to court. And, secondly, to the remark-
able force with which he could set his case before either judge
or jury. He was not an orator in the usual sense of the word,
but he had a clear, concise, strong, logical method of expression
which impressed upon both judge and jury the merit of his case,
and it is said of him that he never lost a case where he had the
closing speech. Always brief in argument, he rarely exceeded
half an hour in presenting a case, and the fact that he could
boil down into plain, strong, terse sentences his argument to
thirty minutes is undoubtedly an evidence of wonderful legal
ability. His success at the bar and the certain fact that he
6 MEN OF MARE
would get into public life at once attracted to him both friends
and enemies. At that time the State was still feeling the effects
of what was known as the Yazoo Fraud, and though the act
had been rescinded and burned in a public bonfire, a large num-
ber of men in the State were known to have been compromised
by it, and the majority of these men were in sympathy, with the
political faction led by John Clarke, son of the Revolutionary
general, Elijah Clarke.
ia Jfeub.
The friends of the men implicated in the Yazoo Fraud made
overtures to Mr. Crawford, as a rising man. These overtures
he rejected, but from this grew the famous feud between Mr.
Crawford and John Clarke, and which later was taken up by
Mr. Troup, as Mr. Crawford's successor in politics, and was
known as the "Crawford and Clarke Feud" or the "Troup and
Clarke Feud." Mr. Clarke was a strong and vindictive poli-
tician, rude and unlettered, a good soldier of the most audacious
courage, and the idol of the common people. Any man of note
who did not give him his support became at once his enemy,
and seeing in Mr. Crawford an opponent to be feared, his
hatred toward him was absolutely vitriolic.
Out of this bitter feud grew the two most distressful inci-
dents of Mr. Crawford's life. Mr. Clarke's friends put forward
as a champion one Peter Van Allen, a I^ew Yorker by birth,
but at that time solicitor-general of the Western Circuit of
Georgia. Mr. "Van Allen fastened a duel upon Mr. Crawford,
and Mr. Crawford, not above the prejudices of his time, went
upon the so-called field of honor with Mr. Van Allen, on the
South Carolina side of the Savannah River, and Mr. Van Allen
was killed. Mr. Clarke then personally challenged Mr. Craw-
ford, who accepted, and in that duel Mr. Crawford had his left
wrist shattered by the pistol ball. It is distressing to think that
a man of the mental caliber of William II. Crawford should
have allowed himself to be dragged into affairs of this kind, but
WILLIAM HARRIS CRAWFORD 7
in considering these things allowances must be made for the
customs of the time in which he lived.
This feud, which lasted for twenty-five years, influenced dur-
ing those twenty-five years every move in the public life of
Georgia. Every candidate was known as a Crawford or a Clarke
candidate, and later on as a Troup or a Clarke candidate. Mr.
Crawford and Mr. Troup were both accomplished men of letters
aside from their natural ability, but notwithstanding this for
many long years Mr. Clarke held his own and was twice elected
Governor. After a few years Mr. Crawford got out of the field
of State politics into the larger field of Federal affairs at Wash-
ington, and while this took him out of active conflict with Mr.
o
Clarke it seems merely to have been an additional cause of em-
bitterment in Mr. Clarke's mind. It must be conceded that Mr.
Crawford himself felt the same sort of animosity toward Mr.
Clarke tempered only by the fact that he was a man of larger
measure.
in tfje Uniteb States Senate.
In 1807 he entered the United States Senate. He was then
a man of thirty-five. He came immediately into collision with
that veteran debater, William B. Giles, of Virginia. In this
contest he made such a creditable showing that his reputation
as a man of first-class ability was at once established, and in
the six years of his service in the Senate he stood up in the front
rank of the strong men of that body. At first, like many men
of his time, doubtful about keeping up a strong navy, he later
saw the wisdom of this, and when the troubles began to thicken
with Great Britain he became a warm and strong advocate of
an early resort to arms, as shown by his votes in the Senate upon
every question leading up to the declaration of war throughout
1811-12. As he was made President pro tempore of the Senate
during the session of Congress in which the war was declared,
and as it is contrary to the custom for the presiding officer of
the Senate to take the floor, he does not appear as one of the
speakers at that imminent moment, but his position had already
been made clear.
8 MEN OF MARK
On two great public questions of interest at that time, the
embargo and the bank, his position was prompt and fearless and
independent. He opposed the embargo in the face of a popular
and powerful administration, and supported the United States
Bank vigorously. It is said, however, that later on he made it
known to his intimate friends that a careful perusal of the
secret debates of the convention which framed the Constitution,
and the debates upon the adoption of that instrument by States,
produced a change in his opinion upon the constitutionality of
the bank.
Early in 1813, after declining the office of Secretary of War,
he resigned from the Senate and accepted the position of Min-
i lev to France, and was never again a member of the lawmaking
body of the republic.
a Jforetgn iUtmfiter anii Cabinet Officer.
He was a minister to France during two very trying years
for that country, and upheld in every way the rights of his
country, and made a profound impression at Paris on those
with whom he came in contact, from the Emperor Xapoleon
down, and when the allies entered Paris in 1814 it is said that
he was the only foreign minister who had held the ground and
remained in the city. Returning from France in 1815, he
served for a few months under President Madison as Secretary
of War, but in October of that year changed over to be Secre-
tary of the Treasury, which position he held during the re-
mainder of Madison's term and the full eight years of Monroe's
two terms. In this position Mr. Crawford rendered his greatest
public service. He was one of the few really great secretaries
of the treasury that the country has ever had. He came in office
at a time when a thinly settled and undeveloped country was
struggling to overcome the losses of a severe and expensive war.
A wide and exposed frontier had to be cared for continually
at large expense. Domestic relations were disturbed and the
people were oppressed by monetary difficulties ; commerce, both
home and foreign, constantly fluctuating; commercial capital
WILLIAM HARRIS CRAWFORD 9
was deranged and a large debt had to be managed, and above all
he had to deal with a miserably depreciated currency. The able
men of that day agreed that it required a ceaseless vigilance
and profound ability to preserve the national estate from bank-
ruptcy. To the credit of Mr. Crawford it must be said that at
no period of the Kepublic was the public credit better than dur-
ing his administration of the treasury. All the national debt
obligations were faithfully met and the burdens of government
upon the people were made for the most part light and easy. It
is said that the difference between his estimated and actual re-
ceipts only varied as much as ten per cent, while the estimates
of his most distinguished predecessors had varied from seventeen
to twenty-one per cent. During the nine years that he served
in this most responsible and difficult position he strengthened
and builded the national credit in larger measure than had yet
been accomplished by the able men who had preceded him, and
held during the period the unlimited confidence of both Presi-
dents Madison and Monroe under whom he served. Albert Gal-
latin, a former Secretary of the Treasury, at that time the most
famous financier in the United States, was extremely anxious
that Mr. Crawford should retain the office longer, and President
John Quincy Adams was evidently of the same way of thinking,
as immediately upon his taking office he asked Mr. Crawford
to retain the treasury portfolio. This he was compelled to de-
cline, owing to the condition of his health.
With his retirement from the treasury Mr. Crawford's public
life as it affects the Nation at large ceased. Many people at
that time thought if his health had not been so bad he would
have been elected at the time Mr. Adams was chosen. As it
was, he received an honorable vote, leading Mr. Clay and coming
next to Mr. Adams. Whatever may have been the reason it is
certain that Mr. Crawford's family hailed with great pleasure
the result, as it meant that they would be able to go back to
the delightful life of the home plantation in Georgia.
10 MEN OF MARK
Jfamtlp Me.
In 1804, after the seven years engagement which had been
prolonged by his financial situation, he married Susanna Ger-
dine (or Girardin), of Augusta, and in that year settled at
Woodlawn, which was his home until the day of his death. Mrs.
Crawford was as plain and unaffected in her tastes as her dis-
tinguished husband, so that all through life there was absolute
harmony between them as to their methods of living. An inti-
mate personal friend of Mr. Crawford, in writing after his
death, said: "Mr. Crawford's house has often been styled
'Liberty Hall' by those familiar with the unrestrained mirth-
fulness, hilarity and social glee which marked its fireside and
the perfect freedom with which every child, from the oldest to
the youngest, expressed his or her opinion upon the topics sug-
gested by the moment, whether these topics referred to men or
measures. His children were always encouraged to act out
their respective characters precisely as they were, and the actions
and sentiments of each were always a public subject of com-
mendation or good humored ridicule by the rest. They criti-
cised the opinions and the conduct of the father with the same
freedom as those of each other, and he acknowledged his errors
or argued his defense with the same kind spirit and good temper
as distinguished his course toward them in every other case.
The family government was one of the best specimens of democ-
racy that the world had ever seen. There was nothing like
faction in the establishment. According to the last census before
marriage and emigration commenced the population was ten,
consisting of father, mother and eight children, of whom five
were sons and three daughters. Suffrage on all questions was
universal, extending to male and female. Freedom of speech
and equal rights were felt and acknowledged to be the birthright
of each. Knowledge was a common stock to which each felt a
peculiar pleasure in contributing according as opportunity en-
abled him. When affliction or misfortune came each bore his
share in the common burden. When health and prosperity came
each became emulous of heightening a common joy."
As a husband Mr. Crawford was kind, affectionate and de-
WILLIAM HARRIS CRAWFORD 11
voted. He never made much show of his attachments to any
one, preferring to show his regard by his actions. His children
were devoted to him as thoroughly as those of any parent could
be. He constantly instructed them at home and made them
stand, as long as his health would permit it, daily examinations
to see how they were getting along in their studies. The Bible
was his chief class-book, and the books of Job and Psalms were
his favorite portions. "It was not within the knowledge of any
of his children that he was ever guilty of profane swearing. He
never made a profession of religion, but was a decided believer
in Christianity, a life member of the American Bible Society,
a vice-president of the American Colonization Society, and a
regular contributor to the support of the gospel."
in
Both in his public and his private life Mr. Crawford was
clean and honorable. His faults were such as grew out of and
were accentuated by the bitter political strife in his home State
which was not of his making. His virtues were those of a high-
minded and patriotic citizen of the first rank as to ability.
Nathaniel Macon, of North Carolina, his contemporary, and
himself rated as one of the first men of his day, regarded Mr.
Crawford as the ablest man he had ever met. Thomas H. Ben-
ton, of Missouri, for thirty years a member of the United States
Senate, a strong man himself and a good judge of strong men,
put Mr. Crawford up in the front rank of the statesmen of his
generation. As previously stated, Napoleon said that he was
the ablest man he had ever met. These opinions are from men
of his own day who were certainly capable judges.
It is entirely fair to say that if one were to pick out the
twenty-five ablest American statesmen of the nineteenth century
that William H. Crawford would be well up in the first half-
dozen names selected. Through the toils and conflicts and bit-
ter animosities of thirty years of political strife not a stain ever
rested upon his integrity, and this of itself, when the period is
considered, is the highest possible testimonial to Mr. Crawford's
character as a good citizen and a patriotic public servant.
BERNARD SUTTJ.KU.
3ToeI Abbott.
JOEL ABBOTT, physician and statesman, was born in Fair-
field, Connecticut, March 19, 1776. Professor Arthur, in
his '"Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian
Names," says that the name Abhott comes from the office of the
Eoman church, meaning the chief ruler of an abbey. It is de-
rived from Syriac, abba, signifying a father. Although this
gives a long ancestral lineage, dating back to the early history
of the Roman church, Dr. Abbott descended from Puritan stock.
His foreparents, both paternal and maternal, came to America
in the Mayflower, landing at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts, in
the month of December, 1620.
After receiving a liberal academic education he studied medi-
cine under his father, who was a prominent practicing physician
at Fairfield for more than a quarter of a century.
After graduating in medicine, Dr. Joel Abbott removed to
Washington, Wilkes County, Georgia, in 1794. Being endowed
with a high order of intellect and adaptability to circumstances,
he soon commanded an extensive and remunerative practice in
the home of his adoption. Being a born politician, with the
happy faculty of always remembering faces and never forgetting
names, he at once became quite popular with the masses. After
holding various local offices he was elected in 1809 to represent
Wilkes County in the Georgia Legislature. He was reelected
to this position for two successive terms, and by a handsome
majority each time.
In 1817 Dr. Abbott was elected to the Fifteenth United States
Congress, leading his ticket by a large majority. At that time
Congressmen were elected on a general ticket throughout the
State, and not by congressional districts as at present. He was
reelected to the Sixteenth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Con-
gresses and represented Georgia continuously in the lower house
of Congress from December 1, 1S17, to March 3, 1825.
JOEL ABBOTT 13
While thus serving his State Dr. Abbott became the intimate
friend of such men as Henry Clay, who was at that time Speaker
of the House; John C. Calhoun, John Kandolph and his own
colleagues from Georgia, among whom were John Forsyth,
Thomas W. Cobb, E. E. Eied, George E. Gilmer, Alfred Cuth-
bert, Wiley Thompson and others.
In those early days living in Washington was somewhat prim-
itive. For want of hotel accommodation Congressmen some-
times formed messes and lived on the bachelor style. At one
time Dr. Abbott, with Messrs. Harden, of Kentucky, Smith, of
Virginia, and Gilmer and Thompson, of Georgia, formed such
a mess. Mr. Gilmer tells in his "Georgians" how he was forced
to leave the mess and seek better quarters when advised that
his wife was coming to Washington.
Dr. Abbott was a warm personal friend and ardent supporter
of Hon. William H. Crawford. During the presidential cam-
paign of 1824, one of the fiercest ever witnessed in Georgia,
there were four candidates for this high office — General Andrew
Jackson, of Tennessee ; John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts ;
Henry Clay, of Kentucky, and William H. Crawford, of
Georgia. Dr. Abbott again ran for Congress as a supporter of
Mr. Crawford for the presidency, and led the ticket, receiving
11,233 votes.
During his service in Congress Dr. Abbott did much efficient
work in committee and on the floor of the House. He was on
the committees on Slave Trade, Commerce and others equally
important.
In the early part of the last century the profession of phar-
macy had not been separated from that of medicine, and in
order to be a good doctor it was necessary to become an adept in
pharmacy. Dr. Abbott had so mastered both of these professions
that the Medical Society of Georgia elected him as a delegate
to the convention which met in Philadelphia in 1820 to prepare
the first ISTational Pharmacopoeia.
For a number of years before Dr. Abbott was sent to Congress
from Georgia there had been practically but one political party,
14 MEN OF MARK
that was the Jeffersonian Democratic party. But about this
time there sprang up in the State two very bitter political fac-
tions. These were purely local and of a personal nature.
One was headed by William H. Crawford, a lawyer and
statesman of high ability and international reputation, and
probably the greatest man Georgia has ever had in her history.
The other was led by General John Clarke, a man of much
prominence and great influence. Clarke had sprung from the
lower stratum of society and, possessing to a great extent all
their peculiar notions and prejudices, was a man of great power
among the middle and lower classes. When, in 1806, Mr. Craw-
ford was a member of the Georgia Legislature and General
Clarke had preferred charges against Judge Tait, Mr. Crawford
championed Tait's cause. This so offended Clarke that a duel
was fought between these two gentlemen and Crawford was
wounded in the wrist. Owing to the reputation which Dr.
Abbott had as physician and surgeon and close, intimate per-
sonal relations, he was Mr. Crawford's surgeon and ministered
to his wounds on the field.
Soon after his retirement from Congress Dr. Abbott's health
became impaired and he died November 19, 1826. He left sev-
eral children who with their descendants have honored the name
which Dr. Abbott bequeathed them, not only at the bar, on the
rostrum, and in the pulpit, but in various other ways.
Dr. Abbott bought and improved the home where General
Robert Toombs afterwards lived, and his good wife laid out
the grounds which as a flower garden has been the admiration
of three generations. R. J. MASSEY.
GENERAL DAVID ADAMS was born at Waxhaws, S. C.,
January 28. 1766. This is the accepted date. It is
stated that in the latter part of the Revolution he served
in a campaign under General Henderson against the British
and Tories. This can not be true if he was born in 1766, and
it is probable that he was confused with an older relative or
brother. After the Revolution his father moved to Georgia and
settled on Shoulder Bone Creek. This was at that time frontier
territory and the Creek Indians were powerful and hostile,
their attacks, indeed, being so frequent that the frontier people
were compelled to build and live in forts. Young Adams grow-
ing up in this environment showed such courage and capacity
during ten years of active service as scout and Indian fighter
that he was elected by acclamation a major of militia. Later
on the Legislature of Georgia elected him a brigadier-general,
and subsequently a major-general in the militia. In the War
of 1812, when hostilities broke out with the Creeks, who were
instigated by the British, the Governor appointed him to com-
mand of an expedition against the Tallapoosa towns. He started
with three hundred men, when General Floyd, learning of the
march and knowing that the Indians had concentrated at the
Horseshoe Bend, tried to get him warning in time to flee. When
General Adams arrived at the river it was so swollen by recent
rains that he found it impossible to get across. Realizing the
strength of the Indians he very wisely concluded to retreat, and
by judicious maneuvers succeeded in withdrawing from the very
dangerous position, and a little later had the pleasure of seeing
the Indian power utterly overthrown in the battle of the Horse-
shoe by the Americans under General Jackson. He held various
appointments under the State government, all of which were
discharged with fidelity and ability. In 1820, in connection
1C MEN OF MARK
with General David Meriwether and John Mclntosh, he served
as commissioner for the making of a treaty with the Creeks
whereby Georgia gained new territory.
When the lands between the Ocmulgee and Flint rivers were
obtained from the Indians he served the State as a commissioner.
Always popular with the people of Jasper county, where he
lived, he served them in the General Assembly for twenty-five
years, and was several times Speaker of the House. The exact
date of his death is unknown, but he is believed to have been
quite an old man when he died, somewhere between 1830 and
1840. COMPILED BY THE PUULTSIIEK.
I
I
18 MEN OF MARK
her oldest son she gave much care to his early training. Cir-
cumstances became narrower in the little family as the years
went on, and so much depended on the oldest boy that his life
was one of toil and privation. His father taught him to read
and write and the principles of grammar and arithmetic.
While he was but a boy he joined the church, and when he
was eighteen, with his father's full consent, he joined the South
Carolina conference (which then covered Georgia) as an itiner-
ant preacher. Good James Marks gave him a pony. His
parents equipped him as best they could, and in 1812 he went
as a junior preacher 011 a low country circuit in South Carolina.
Afterwards he was put in charge of a large circuit in Eastern
ISTorth Carolina, and later on a circuit in Georgia. He lived
in log cabins, preached every day, had few books, but studied
them well, and rapidly grew in favor as a preacher. He was
sent to the largest citv in the southern section — Charleston.
V
Here, to the dismay of his older brethren in the ministry, he
married a lovely and portionless orphan girl, Miss Amelia Mc-
Earland. Her father had been a Scotch sea captain. Her
mother was a saintly American woman of German descent.
The limits of this space forbid any very extensive account of
Bishop Andrew's career as a preacher in charge of stations, cir-
cuits and districts. He soon became one of the leaders in his
conference. He was eloquent, intelligent, sensible and pro-
foundly pious and, while a young man, was selected by his
brethren as a member of the General Conference. He had re-
moved to Georgia and was stationed at Augusta when he was
chosen for the third time to the General Conference. He was
decidedly a conservative, and was recognized by the conserv-
atives as a wise leader. When a bishop was to be selected — to
his great astonishment and dismay, while a cultured college
man of position and wealth was chosen as one of two bishops —
he was selected as the other.
Perhaps no man ever more reluctantly accepted a position.
It was a great sacrifice for a man only forty years old, with a
wife and children, and of such tender domestic attachments, to
JAMES OSGOOD ANDREW 19
be required to take a place which exiled him from his family
and which laid upon him such heavy responsibilities. He felt
he could not do his duty and refuse the office.
In 1832 he began his episcopal labors. They were immense.
In prosecuting them he went to the lakes of the North and the
wilds of Texas. There were no railways, and the steamers on
the rivers only reached a few of the places to which he was
obliged to go. The private conveyance, the lumbering coach
and the faithful horse were his reliance. He had hard work
and much of it. He had become one of the most popular of
bishops when peculiar circumstances brought him into the most
trying position in which a Methodist bishop has ever been placed.
He became, without his own volition, a slaveholder. The
church as a church, from the beginning, had opposed and yet
tolerated slaveholding. He had no slaves when he was elected,
and he was conscious that that fact had been the means of se-
curing him some votes. He had never bought a slave, but a
good woman left one to his guardianship. The little girl was
to be sent to Liberia, if she wished to go, otherwise she was to
be his slave, as she could not be freed. She preferred to be the
bishop's slave to going to Africa, and he thus became her nomi-
nal owner. Then his wife had a slave boy left to her, and which
descended to him after her death. The bishop married a woman
who had a number of slaves, but as soon as he legally could he
divested himself of all claim to them. He had no idea of any
agitation arising from this state of things, but when he reached
Baltimore, going to the General Conference in ISTew York, he
found there was a disposition to censure him for slaveholding.
He had not wished to be a bishop ; he longed for an oppor-
tunity of escape from a bishop's responsibilities and labors. He
gladly made up his mind to resign but, upon learning this was
his intention, the whole Southern delegation sent a written pro-
test declaring that if he resigned because of this clamor they
would at once take steps to divide the General Conference. The
case came before the general body. There was a stormy time,
and he was virtually deposed. The Conference, however, did
20 MKN OF NARK
not censure him as guilty of any offense, and seemed disposed
to do what it could to prevent calamity in the South, and pro-
vided for a possible division of the church. This division took
place, and Bishops Soule and Andrew were the bishops. Bishop
Andrew was in his vigor ; Bishop Soule was quite an old man,
and the burdens of the superintendency fell on Andrew.
From that time until 1866, for more than twenty years, there
was no relief from the heavy toils and the weighty cares of his
office. The Civil War came on with all its horrors. While he
had always been a conservative, he was no less a warm South-
erner. He took no part in the contest personally, but sympa-
thized very warmly with his own people. His son, Dr. Andrew,
of Alabama, was in the army.
After the war ended he decided to give up his position as
bishop and quietly retire. This he did in 1866, having been a
bishop for thirty-four years. His after-life was devoted to such
labors as were possible for an old man over seventy. He visited
his friends and preached, sitting, to the grandchildren of those
whose grandparents had heard his eloquent sermons fifty years
before. Honored and beloved he quietly passed away. He died
in great peace in Mobile, Alabama, on his way home on March
1, 1871, aged seventy-seven years.
Bishop Andrew was a man of great natural endowments. He
was not skilled in the learning of the schools, but he was re-
markably intelligent and knew men. He was a very impressive,
interesting and eloquent preacher ; a man of wonderful common
sense, and one whose genial ways and warm affections made him
many devoted friends. He was a profoundly pious man whose
whole life had been absolutely unstained.
Bishop Andrew was married three times ; first, to Miss Amelia
McFarland, by whom he had all his children. These were Mrs.
Meriwether, Mrs. L<>vctt. Mrs. Lamar, Mrs. Bush, Miss Mary
Andrew and Dr. James G. Andrew. Bev. Dr. Lovett, editor of
the Wesleyan Advocate, is his grandson, and the Bev. James C.
Andrew, of Alabama, his only son.
GEORGE G. SMITH.
Robert JM. Ccijote.
IT is unfortunately true that in the case of many distinguished
Georgians of the past, it is not possible now to get authentic
data on many points. A leader of great prominence in the
first half of the last century was General Robert M. Echols, and
while it is now impossible to get complete and authentic data
with reference to his life in many particulars, it is believed that
the facts here given are accurate. He was a son of Milner and
Susan (Sansom) Echols, who were both natives of ^'^irginia, and
said to have married iri that State and migrated to Wilkes
county, Georgia.
Robert M. Echols was born four miles from Washington, in
Wilkes county, about the beginning of the last century. His
grandfather, James Echols, was a Revolutionary soldier who
died in 1792. When a young man his family moved from
Wilkes to Walton county, and the remainder of his life was
spent as a citizen of that county. The home was about one
mile from Broken Arrow and five miles west of Monroe.
He married Mary Melton, of Clarke county, Ga. Of this
marriage nine children were born, five sons and four daughters,
none of whom are at this date living. A brother of General
Echols's wife, Eliel Melton, was killed in that Homeric struggle
known as the "Fall of the Alamo," in March, 1836, during the
Texan war for independence.
Early in life General Echols became active in political mat-
ters and was sent to the General Assembly, where he served
continuously for twenty-four years. His services were in both
houses and he was for several terms President of the Senate.
On the occasion of Howell Cobb's first candidacy for Congress
General Echols was the opposing candidate and was defeated
by Cobb with the narrow margin of two votes. In 1847, when
the United States went to war with Mexico, General Echols be-
22 MEN OF MARK
came colonel of the 13th U. S. Regiment (with brevet of
brigadier-general) which he led gallantly during that struggle,
and in the latter part of 1847, while on dress parade at the
Xational Bridge, in Mexico, he was thrown from his horse, sus-
taining injuries which, complicated with bowel troubles, caused
his death December 3, 1847.
He was buried in Mexico, but several years thereafter the
Legislature of Georgia made an appropriation and had his re-
mains brought to Georgia, where they were buried in his old
home in Walton county with full military honors, and the fu-
neral was said to have been the most imposing one in the history
of Walton county.
In 1858 the Legislature organized a new county on the
Florida line, which was called Echols, in honor of General
Echols, who had served the State faithfully for more than
twenty years in peace, and who at the first call to arms had gal-
lantly taken up his sword in defense of his country.
His immediate family has disappeared. He had several
brothers and two sisters, all of whom were prominent in their
day. One of his sisters married a Ross and the other sister,
Martha Echols, married Joshua Ammons, a well-known edu-
cator, who was the father of the late John M. Amnions, of Wal-
ton county. J. R. Mobley, of Atlanta, a prominent business
man of the present day, is a grand-nephew of General Echols,
and is his nearest known living relative. A man of much
prominence in his time, all the information obtainable leads to
the belief that his qualities were of the solid and useful order
rather than brilliant, and his long service in the General As-
sembly justifies the belief that he was a capable and faithful
legislator. COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
Jflournop
THOMAS FLOURNOY FOSTER, lawyer and statesman,
was bom at Greensboro, Ga., November 23, 1796. His
father, Colonel George Wells Foster, moved from Virginia
to Georgia in 1790. Mr. Foster's first educational training was
obtained in the male academy at Greensboro, first under Parson
Ray and later under William W. Strain. He then entered
Franklin College., now the State University, and graduated in
1812. Having decided upon the legal profession as a vocation
in life, he took up his studies with Matthew Wells, of Greens-
boro, and later attended law lectures at the famous school of
Gould and Reeve, at Litchfield, Conn. In 1816 he was admitted
to the bar and entered upon the practice of the profession in
his native town. Prompt in his attention to business, indus-
trious and capable, he soon acquired a large practice. Possessed
of an original and investigating turn of mind, together with
great natural ability, fluency in debate and abundant self-confi-
dence, he was soon a leader. It was not long before his people
sent him to the General Assembly, and he represented Greene
county there for a number of years. An amusing story is told
of Mr. Foster while he was in the Legislature. A plain citizen
from a distant county went to Milledgeville while the Legisla-
ture was in session, and on his return a neighbor asked him who
was elected Speaker of the House. The artless visitor replied
that "a little, frisky, hard-favored, pop-eyed man from Greene
was the Speaker, for he was nearly all the time speaking, for
the man which he called 'Mr. Speaker' sat high up in a chair
and said nothing but 'The gentleman from Greene.' :
In 1828 he was elected to the Twenty-first Congress as a
Democrat on a general ticket with Charles E. Haynes, Henry
G. Lamar, James M. Wayne and Richard H. Wilde as col-
leagues. He was reelected to the two next Congresses, making
24 MEN OF MARK
a term of six years. In 1835, after completing his last congres-
sional term, he resumed the practic.6 of his profession with his
usual energy, and was soon employed in a majority of the large
cases on his circuit in every section of the State. In easy cir-
cumstances, he practiced a generous hospitality. In 1840, by
invitation of the Whigs of Alabama, he attended the mass con-
vention held at Tuscaloosa in honor of General Harrison's nomi-
nation to the presidency. Being called upon and urged to ad-
dress the convention, he spoke an hour with great effect, in criti-
cism of Mr. Van Buren's administration, which he charged
with the evil economic conditions then prevailing. In 1841 he
was elected Representative to the Twenty-seventh Congress, and
served out the term ending March 3, 1843. This was his last
public service.
Somewhat late in life he married Miss Gardner, of Augusta,
a lady of much intelligence, who exercised a gentle and restrain-
ing influence over his habits, contributed much to his happiness,
and prevented that excess in wine which had been the regret of
his friends during previous years. He died at Columbus, Ga.,
in 1847. The celebrated Rev. Lovick Pierce, who was his
brother-in-law, speaking after his death, said of him that Mr.
Foster had lived in his family for more than twenty years ; that
he was one of the most companionable men he had ever known,
with much pleasant humor about him; that as a lawyer he
ranked in the first class, and as a good man in all his natural
developments was an exception. Dr. Pierce frankly said that
high living with great men had led Mr. Foster to love wine
to his injury. Senator Dawson, writing of him in 1851 to a
friend, among other things, said that he was a sound lawyer,
able in the discussion of legal questions, one of the best jury
lawyers in the circuit, social, frank and honorable in his profes-
sional intercourse, possessed of much good humor, was engaged
in a majority of the important cases, had the confidence of his
clients, and the regard and respect of the intelligent men all
over the State. He closed with the statement that he was no
ordinary man. COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
<§aml)le.
AMONG the strong men of the first half of the last century
was Roger Lawson Gamble, who was a native of Jeffer-
son county; a son of Joseph Gamble, who emigrated
from Virginia to Jefferson county after the Revolutionary War.
His father was in good circumstances and able to give him a
good education. He studied law, was admitted to the bar and
began practicing at Louisville. He promptly acquired promi-
nence as a lawyer, became interested in public life, was elected
a Representative from Georgia to the Twenty-third Congress as
a States-rights Democrat, defeated for reelection to the Twenty-
fourth, and elected to the Twenty-seventh as a Harrison Whig.
Defeated for reelection to the Twenty-eighth, he was then elected
a judge of the Superior Court, serving in that capacity with
abilitv, and died at his home in Louisville December 20, 1847.
i/ / /
Judge Gamble was recognized as an able lawyer, and by the
practice of his profession accumulated a handsome estate. His
son, Roger Lawson Gamble, the second, never entered public
life, and in the present generation Roger L. Gamble, the third,
is an able lawyer and has served as solicitor-general, member of
the Legislature and judge of the Middle Circuit with as great
ability as his grandfather. Four generations of the family
have now lived in and been valuable citizens of Georgia and
Jefferson county.
<§eorse Eodungljam Kilmer.
GEOEGE EOCKINGHAM GILMER was born in that
part of Wilkes that is now Oglethorpe county, Georgia,
April 11, 1790. His ancestors were Scotch. His great-
grandfather, Dr. George Gilmer, came direct from Scotland
and settled in Williamsburg, Virginia. His father, Thomas M.
Gilmer, and his mother moved from Virginia to Wilkes county
in 1784. Although George grew up on the farm his body was
frail and his health delicate. When he was thirteen years old
his father sent him to Dr. Wilson's school at Abbeville, South
Carolina. Later he attended the famous Georgia Academy
under Dr. Moses Waddell, who was perhaps the greatest teacher
of his time. He awakened in young Gilmer aspirations that
in after years were to give tone and direction to a useful career.
Throughout his public life George Gilmer never failed to ac-
knowledge the debt he owed to his great teacher.
On account of ill health he was unable to go to college. While
confined at home he read law and taught his younger brothers.
In 1813 his physician, Dr. Bibb, who was also at that time
United States Senator, believing that life in camp would be bene-
ficial to him, secured for him an appointment as First Lieuten-
ant in the United States Army. At that time the Creek Indians
were making hostile demonstrations against the settlers in the
western part of the State. Lieutenant Gilmer was placed in
command of a body of troops that rendered most effective service
in expelling the Indians from the Chattahoochee district. After
the Indian war, his health having greatly improved, he returned
to Lexington, Oglethorpe county, and began the practice of law.
While he had been denied a college education he was always a
thoughtful student of men and things. He observed that a
close and accurate study of things taught him to think accu-
rately and correctly. Flowers and stones and birds and brooks,
all natural objects, provoked his closest attention. He found
GEORGE ROCKINGHAM GILMER. 27
"sermons in stones and books in running brooks." The same
close analysis he applied to the study of his law cases, and soon
had a large and lucrative law practice.
In 1818 he was elected to represent his county in the State
Legislature and became at once a leader in the House of Rep-
resentatives. The journals of the House at that time show that
his career was independent and fearless. It was through his
influence that a law against private banking, at that time a
great evil, was passed. He was also the first to arouse interest
in an appellate court for the correction of errors. This move-
ment led to the establishment of the Supreme Court of Georgia.
In 1820 he was elected to Congress, and again in 1824 and
1828. However, in 1828, he failed to give notice of his ac-
ceptance in due time required by law, and Governor Forsyth
declared his appointment vacant and ordered a new election.
Mr. Gilmer declined to be a candidate again. The same year
he ran for Governor and was overwhelmingly elected.
It was while he was a member of Congress, in the year 1822,
that he married Miss Eliza Frances Grattan, whose father was
of the same stock as the famous Irish orator Henry Grattan.
From this marriage no children were born, but his married
life seemed to have been very happy.
In 1830, after serving his first term as Governor, he was a
candidate for reelection, but was defeated by Wilson Lumpkin.
However, he was again elected to Congress in 1833, and elected
a second time Governor in 1837.
It was during his first term as Governor that serious dis-
turbances occurred with the Cherokee Indians. There was con-
stant friction growing out of questions concerning the territory
occupied by the Indians. An incident occurred that illustrated
the independent and fearless character of Governor Gilmer.
George Tassels, a Cherokee, killed another Indian within that
part of the Cherokee territory subject to the courts of Hall
county, and was arrested by the Sheriff of that county. Tassels
was tried in the Superior Court and sentenced to be hanged.
His lawyers appealed his case to the Supreme Court of the
United States, and Governor Gilmer was summoned to appear
28 MEN OF MARK
before the Supreme Court to answer for the State of Georgia.
The Governor sent to the State Legislature, which was in ses-
sion at the time, this message :
"Orders received from the Supreme Court of the United
States for the purpose of interfering with the decisions of the
courts of this State in the exercise of their constitutional juris-
diction will be resisted with all the force the laws have placed
at my command."
The Legislature upheld the Governor and Tassels was
promptly hanged. Governor Gilmer said in this connection :
"I believe it to be our highest political duty to retain the
organization of the government in the form in which our fore-
fathers gave it, — limiting the United States to legislation upon
general subjects mentioned in the Constitution and preserving
unimpaired the rights of the States and the people."
These troubles that began with the Indians during his first
term as Governor were brought to an end during his second
term as chief magistrate of the State ten years later. By a
treaty between the United States and the Indians the tribes
were all removed west of the Mississippi. At the close of his
term of office as Governor he retired to his home in Lexington
to spend the rest of his days in the peace and quiet of his home-
life.
He gave a great deal of his time in the closing years of his
career to a study of the mineral deposits of his county. At the
time of his death he had collected a cabinet of minerals which
was perhaps the most valuable in the State. He became greatly
interested also in the cause of education. For thirtv vears he
tj t/
was a trustee of the State University and left several valuable
bequests to that institution. One of these bequests was a fund,
the interest of which was to be used for training teachers for
the poor children of the State. This is the first fund of the
kind ever given by any citizen of the State. The interest on
the fund — still known as the Gilmer fund — is used by the trus-
tees of the University in connection with the State Xormal
School at Athens.
Regarded from any point of view, Governor Gilmer was one
GEORGE ROCKINGHAM GILMER 29
of the most useful and distinguished men the State has ever
produced. His ideal of citizenship was the consecration of the
best he had to the service of the State. His convictions of right
and duty were clear and strong, and he was never known, either
in public or private conduct, to compromise with wrong. "Let
me always do what is right," he said, "and I care not what the
consequences may be."
In 1855 he published "Georgians," a work full of valuable
information concerning the early settlers of the State.
He died at Lexington, Georgia, November 15, 1859, in the
seventieth year of his age.
It is not out of place in speaking of the life of this distin-
guished man to mention the fact that he lived at a period when
there was much political bitterness in the State of Georgia, and
even good men were so prejudiced that it was hard for them to
do each other justice. It is undoubtedly true that Governor
Gilmer suffered to some extent from the partisan feeling at that
time prevalent.
The summing up of him above may be taken as correct now
that he has been dead for more than a generation, and men are
able to look back upon those days without prejudice. Even so
good a man as Governor Wilson Lumpkin, who was a contem-
porary, at times opposed to Governor Gilmer, underrated, cer-
tainly, his ability, and possibly his fidelity to conviction.
Growing out of the publication of his reminiscences, a consid-
erable feeling was shown against Governor Gilmer. He was
very plain spoken, and in these reminiscences he did not mince
matters, but said things that generally are left unsaid in books
of that character. His plain speech in connection with promi-
nent men of that time caused a good many people to feel ill
will, and this militated against a fair judgment of Governor
Gilmer himself. At this time, with all the facts from both
sides at hand, when all the actors in the drama of that day are
long buried, it seems to be a just conclusion that he was a con-
scientious and patriotic man of very considerable ability.
G. R. GLENJST.
Militant
WILLIAM WASHINGTON GORDON, lawyer and
railroad president, was a man of such business ca-
pacity that was he living at this time he would in-
evitably be a captain of industry. He was born in Richmond
county, Ga., in 179 G, son of Ambrose Gordon, a native of
Maryland, who served under Colonel William Washington in
the southern campaigns of the Revolutionary War with the
grade of lieutenant of cavalry. His campaign in the South
gave him a knowledge of the country which attracted him so
greatly that immediately after the close of the Revolution he
came to Georgia and settled in Augusta. He sent his son,
William W., at an early age to reside with an uncle, Ezekiel
Gordon, then a resident of New Jersey. Young Gordon was
placed at school in Rhode Island for several years, after which
he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point,
where he was graduated in 1815, and soon after his gradua-
tion was appointed as an aide to General Gaines.
Possessed of a very enterprising spirit and sound judgment,
Mr. Gordon saw that in the long period of peace which was
likely to prevail there would be but slight promotion in the
army and concluded to resign his commission and take up the
study of law. He removed to Savannah to study law with
James M. Wayne, one of the foremost lawyers of the State, and
later for thirty years an associate justice of the United States
Supreme Court. Admitted to the bar, success came to him
promptly and he practiced with constantly increasing reputa-
tion until the early part of 1836, by which time his reputation
for business capacity had grown to such an extent that he was
elected president of the Central of Georgia Railroad and Bank-
ing Company. Mr. Gordon was a pioneer in the railroad field
in Georgia. Unlike the railroad presidents of the present day,
WILLIAM WASHINGTON GORDON 31
his time was put in without stint and with resistless energy,
upon the road, in the office, and traveling from point to point
to see where he could better the interests which were committed
to his hands. So extreme were his labors and so great the ex-
posure incurred in constant travel that he sunk under these
fatigues, and in March, 1842, died at his home in the city of
Savannah from disease occasioned by his labors. He was only
forty-six years old, but he had left a mark upon the State of
Georgia which will not soon be forgotten, and the Central Rail-
road of Georgia is a substantial monument to his memory.
Combined with his legal and business ability were great hon-
esty and firmness of purpose.
The legislature showed its appreciation of his public service
as a developer by naming a county for him. The company
which he had served so faithfully erected in 1882 a monument
to his memory in the city of Savannah, which bears the follow-
ing inscriptions: In front, simply the name "Gordon." On
another side a running train ; on another side, "William Wash-
ington Gordon, born June IT, 1796, died March 20, 1842.
The pioneer of works of internal improvement in his native
State and first president of the Central of Georgia Railroad
and Banking Company of Georgia, to which he gave his time,
his talents, and finally his life." The fourth side, "Erected
A. D. 1882, by the Central Railroad and Banking Company of
Georgia in honor of a brave man, a faithful and devoted officer,
and to preserve his name, in the grateful remembrance of his
fellow-citizens."
General W. W. Gordon, of Savannah, who was a captain in
the Confederate army and a brigadier-general in the Federal
army in the war with Spain, a leading citizen of Savannah in
every respect, is a son of William Washing-ton Gordon, and in
this generation is doing his part toward carrying forward in
Georgia a development suited to present conditions.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
Cfmrle£
CHAELES HAERIS, in his day the most prominent law-
yer of Savannah, and accounted by many men as the
ablest lawyer in Georgia, was a native of England, in
which country he was born in 1772. His early education was
received in France. In 1788, a youth of sixteen, he came to
Georgia, locating at Savannah, and studied law in the office of
Samuel Stirk, a leader of the profession in that day. Mr.
Harris gained reputation almost from his entry into the pro-
fession. It is said of him that he neither essayed ornament
nor eloquence, but his reasoning powers were great, his knowl-
edge of law immense, and his presentation of any case en-
trusted to him was so clear and convincing as to win a vast ma-
jority of his cases. One instance may be cited. A case was
appealed from the Court of Admiralty in Georgia to the Su-
preme Court in Washington. The fee was five thousand dol-
lars, a large one for that day. \Yilliam Pinkney and William
Wirt, two of the great lawyers of that time, were associated
with him. When the case came before the Court, Mr. Pink-
ney arose and said that Mr. Wirt and himself had concluded
that nothing they could say to the Court could possibly be
necessary or add any weight to the masterly reasoning given in
the brief by the gentleman from Georgia. He then read the
brief, and the decision of the court was given in favor of Mr.
Harris's client. Such was Mr. Harris's modesty that in this
case, which clearly he had won alone, he gave to each one of the
associate counsel one thousand dollars of the fee.
He served the people of Savannah either as alderman or
mayor for more than twenty years, but beyond this he could
never be prevailed upon to accept office. Time and again he
refused appointment or election to exalted positions. Governor
Jackson appointed him judge of the Eastern Circuit without
CHARLES HARRIS. 33
consultation. Anxious to gratify his friend, Harris yet de-
clined the appointment. A little later the General Assembly
elected him judge of the Eastern Circuit without solicitation
on his part, but he would not consent.
When Milledge retired from the United States Senate and
it was necessary to fill the vacancy ; despite the many aspirants
for this office, both factions in the legislature, (Crawford and
Clarke), bitterly opposed as they were to each other, united in
the selection of Mr. Harris. An express was sent to Savannah
to learn if he would serve, but he absolutely declined the honor.
The loss of his wife, to whom he was tenderly attached, and
which was largely a reason for his declining these public ser-
vices, as it would interfere with his domestic life; personal ill
health, and other domestic afflictions caused him gradually to
go into close retirement, and he died on March 13, 1827, at
the age of fifty-five, lamented by the entire population of the
city. It is said of him that his manners were pleasing and
affable. He was rather above the middle stature. His benevo-
lence was a proverb. The widow, orphan and distressed looked
upon him as a never-failing friend. He came of an excellent
family in England. His father, William Harris, was a bar-
rister, and first cousin of Lord Malmesbury. His mother was
a Dymock, sister of the hereditary champion of England,
Charles Dymock. His father was one of the two squires who
attended the champion at the coronation of George III. The
Dymocks were descended from the De Bergs, who had been
hereditary champions of England from the accession of the Nor-
man family. In 1827, a few months after the death of Mr.
Harris, the legislature organized a new county in the south-
western part of the State, which was named Harris in honor
of this modest, unassuming and yet valuable citizen.
BEENAED SUTTLEE.
£lnbergon
GEX. HUGH AXDERSOX HARALSOX, of LaGrange,
Georgia, was born in Greene county, Georgia, on Novem-
ber 13, 1805. He was the youngest son of Jonathan
and Clara Browning Haralson, who removed from North Caro-
lina to Georgia in 1783. His elementary education was ob-
tained in the ordinary county schools of the neighborhood, and
he was prepared for college under the instruction of Herman L.
Vail, and Rev. Carlisle P. Beinan, both men of high qualifica-
tions. In January, 1822, he was placed at Franklin College,
Georgia, entering the Freshman class. In August, 1825, he
graduated and immediately applied himself to the study of
law. By constant application he was ready in six months to
take his place among the members of an honorable profession.
Being not yet twenty-one years of age, the legislature of Geor-
gia passed a special act authorizing his examination, and grant-
ing him permission to enter upon the privilege and duties of his
profession. Though young and entering a bar already crowded,
he very soon had the good fortune to enjoy a liberal share of the
business of the courts.
In the winter of 1828, he married Miss Caroline Lewis, of
Greensboro, Georgia. Of the children of this marriage, four
daughters and one son lived until maturity. Of these four
daughters, the eldest married Hon. B. S. Overby; the second
Judge Logan E. Bleckley ; the third, Gen. John B. Gordon, and
the fourth Hon. Jas. M. Pace.
After his marriage he removed from Monroe, Walton
county, where he first entered upon the practice of law, to
LaGrange, Troup county, Georgia, where he remained until
his death on September 25, 1854, continuing the practice of
law with great success. He, nevertheless, devoted part of his
time to agriculture, in which pursuit he was signally fortunate.
HUGH ANDERSON HARALSON 35
He took a deep interest, however, in the political movements of
the day. From his early manhood he had been devoted to the
political doctrines taught by Jefferson and Madison, and always
opposed any exercise of power by the general government, which
he thought threatened to infringe on the constitutional rights
of the States.
In 1831, and again in 1832, he was elected a member of the
Legislature of Georgia, where he maintained the principles he
professed with ability and firmness. For a few years he with-
drew from public life in order to devote more time to his pri-
vate affairs. He was called, however, from his retirement into
the service of the State during the disastrous derangement of
the monetary concerns of the country. His principles had al-
ways led him to oppose a Bank of the United States, and the
widespread issues of paper money. In 1837, as the well-known
advocate of these opinions, he was elected to the Senate of his
State, an office the duties of which were so discharged by him
as to secure his return to the same body in 1838 without oppo-
sition.
He had always manifested some partiality for military life,
and during the Indian disturbances was found at the head of a
company of citizen volunteers, affording relief and protection
to the settlements. In the last year of his service in the Sen-
ate, he was elected by the Legislature to a major-general's com-
mand of militia, and in that capacity immediately after the
commencement of the Mexican War, he tendered his services
to the Governor of his State, and subsequently to the President
of the United States.
In 1840 he exhibited the sincerity of his attachment to the
political doctrines he professed amid the denunciations of kin-
dred and friends, whose love and respect he held but in little
less estimation than his own character and honor. The expan-
sion of paper money, the facility of credit, and a boundless rage
for speculation had involved the whole country in disasters
from which relief in some shape was anxiously sought. With-
out examining the cause of the prevailing distress, there were
36 MEN OF MARK
many who, concluding that -no change could make conditions
worse, were prepared to adopt any expedient which held even a
hope of relief. Thousands of party friends were clamorous for
a new order of things, old party lines were broken down, and
new party names were assumed. The States-rights party, with
which General Haralson had hitherto acted, gave up the name
of States-rights and assumed the name of "Whig." They soon
became advocates of a Bank of the United States, a protective
tariff, and other measures, which as States-rights men, they
had always opposed.
General Haralson met with determined opposition, this
change of sentiment in his old associates and former political
friends. The State, by an overwhelming majority, went in
favor of the Whigs in 1840. In the campaign of 1842, the
Democratic party selected their strongest men for the Congres-
sional contest, and General Haralson was among them. The
result was success, and he was elected a representative of the
State in the Twenty-eighth Congress, by the general ticket sys-
tem. In the controversy which followed, he took a prominent
part in defending and vindicating what he conceived to be the
clearly defined rights of his State. Before the next succeed-
ing Congressional election in 1844, the State of Georgia was
divided into Congressional districts. The district in which
General Haralson resided, known as the fourth, was organized
with a Whig majority. He was, nevertheless, nominated by
the Democratic party, and was elected by a large majority to
the Twenty-ninth Congress, and in 1846, he was elected for
the third time. During the three terms of his service as rep-
resentative from the Fourth Congressional District, he was
chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, including the
period of the Mexican War, when public attention was attracted
to its proceedings, and when its labors and responsibilities were
of an unusually important character.
The county of Haralson was named in his honor.
J. M. PACE.
jfletgg.
JOSIAH MEIGS, nominally the second president of the
University of Georgia, but in reality the first active
president, as Abraham Baldwin, the first president, had
never been able to give the time from his public duties to estab-
lish the University, was born in Middletown, Conn., on August
21, 1757. He was a son of Return Jonathan Meigs, a promi-
nent man of the Revolutionary period, who served as major un-
der Benedict Arnold in the Canadian campaign and later in the
Revolutionary War as a colonel under Anthony Wayne. The
Meigs family is of Puritan stock and goes back to one Vincent
Meigs, or Meggs, who came first to Massachusetts and then
moved to New Haven about 1644. Josiah Meigs graduated
at Yale College in 1778. It does not appear what he did for
the next three years, but in 1781 -and '84 he was a tutor in
mathematics, natural philosophy, and astronomy at Yale. At
the same time he was engaged in the study of law, and was
admitted to the bar in 1783. In conjunction with Daniel
Bowen and Eleutheros Dana he established the 'New Haven
Gazette, in 1784, but notwithstanding what appeared to be a
favorable opening, the paper failed of success and was discon-
tinued in 1786. He served as city clerk of Xew Haven from
1784 to 1789, and in the last named year moved to Bermuda,
where he engaged in the practice of law. In connection with
the defense of some American sailors who had been seized by
British privateers he was arrested by the British authorities
and tried on a charge of treason, but was acquitted.
In 1794 he returned to Connecticut and was elected Professor
of Mathematics and Astronomy in Yale College, which position
he held until 1801, when he came to Georgia to take the presi-
dency of the new University of Georgia, then known as Frank-
lin College. The salary offered him, $1,500, was for that
38 MEN OF MARK
day a sufficient one, but the outlook was extremely gloomy. The
1<>\vn of Athens had but two houses, and the property of the
University consisted of wild lands in a frontier section. There
were no buildings, no money and no students. The first ses-
sions for the instruction of students were held under an oak
tree, and the president was the entire faculty. In 1803 the
historic three-story building known as the "Old College" was
erected. In 1802 the aDemosthenian Literary Society" was
founded. In 1804 the first commencement was held under a
rustic arbor, and ten students received degrees. During the
ten years of President Meigs's administration, from 1801 to
1811, fifty students were graduated. The income was slender
and uncertain. Though a. tutor, Addiii Lewis, and a professor
of modern languages, Petit de Clairville, were added to the
college, the work of the president was very onerous. Frequent
meetings with the trustees to discuss financial questions, trips
to the capital over bad roads on horseback or in buggy were
necessary, and altogether the president of the struggling school
had a task, the difficulties of which can now only be imagined.
In 1806 the legislature authorized the trustees to conduct a lot-
tery for the benefit of the school. Under all these discouraging
circumstances President Meigs was expected to educate from
forty to sixty young men, to superintend the erection of build-
ings, meet with the Legislature and the board of trustees, and
yet because in a few years he did not rival Harvard and Yale,
some men have thought that he was deficient in zeal and in
talents. An impartial estimate of him made in later years by
one acquainted with his qualities and his work rate- him as one
of the ablest men of his day.
A pioneer of education in the South, he labored with untiring
zeal and unremitting industry. Like the Israelite of old he was
expected "to make bricks without straw." In a letter addressed
by Mr. Meigs to Governor Milledge, dated May 11, 1808, refer-
ring to the arrival of some philosophical apparatus, he says : "I
have been much embarrassed with company since its arrival, but
I have patiently attended to the wishes of the people. It is
JOSIAH MEIGS 39
thought we know everything. Alas ! how limited is all our
knowledge. Yet when we compare ourselves with others, we
look down with a species of pride and upwards with humility."
Worn out with the superhuman exertions of ten years, in
1811, he resigned his office, and the college was then suspended
for a year for want of funds. In 1812 he was appointed sur-
veyor-general of the United States and served in that capacity
until 1814, when he became commissioner of the general land
office at Washington, which position he held until his death.
In 1819 he was elected president of the Columbian Institute,
Washington, D. C., which position he held until 1821 without
giving up his duties in the land office, and in 1821 he was elected
Professor of Experimental Philosophy in Columbian Univer-
sity, at Washington, then newly established. He died at Wash-
ington, September 24, 1822, sixty-five years old, leaving behind
him the reputation of a man of great attainments, superior
ability, and single minded devotion to the cause of education.
BEENAED SUTTLEE,
^fiercer.
JESSE MERCER was easily the most distinguished among
the ministers of his day. He was born in Halifax county,
]ST. C., December 16, 1769, the eldest of a family of eight
children consisting of five sons and three daughters.
Silas Mercer, his father, whose name will ever occupy an
honored place in the record of American Baptists, was born near
Currituck Bay, N. C., February, 1745. Silas Mercer's mother
died when he was an infant and his early training devolved
chiefly upon his father, who was a zealous member of the Church
of England. Silas Mercer was from early childhood subject
to serious religious impressions, but was not really converted
until he attained manhood. Previous to this time in life he
was 'devotedly attached to the rites of the Episcopal Church, and
as violently opposed to other religious denominations, especially
the Baptists. He shunned these people as a company of de-
ceivers and as infected with absurd and dangerous heresies.
Possessed of an independent spirit, however, he entered into a
course of personal investigation. He soon began to question
the validity of the traditions which he had so strongly adhered
to, and finally had two of his children dipped for baptism. The
first was Jesse, the subject of this sketch, who was im-
mersed in a barrel of water at his father's home. The other
was a daughter who was subjected to the same ceremony in a
tub prepared for the purpose in the Episcopal meeting house.
The father of Silas threw every possible obstruction in the way,
and when finally the son attended a Baptist meeting, the father
exclaimed with tears of grief and anguish: "Silas, you are
ruined !" Not long after this, Silas Mercer moved with his
family to "Wilkes county, Ga., and was soon thereafter im-
mersed, and became a member of the Kiokee Baptist church.
JESSE MERCER 41
As he left the stream when he was baptized, he ascended a log
on the banks arid exhorted the multitude. He began at once to
preach the gospel as a Baptist minister. He was justly re-
garded as one of the most exemplary and pious ministers of the
South. He died in the fifty-second year of his age, in the midst
of active usefulness.
Jesse Mercer's early life gave an indication of his future
career and usefulness. He was a man of strong, native good
sense, a tender conscience, and great self-control. He avoided
all the gross excesses of youth and was a staid, discreet and
sober young man. With great command of his passions, it is
said he never had a personal quarrel with any one during his
whole life. He set a beautiful example of obedience to parents,
and in the absence of his father from home, gave implicit obe-
dience to the command of his mother. At a very early age he
came under religious convictions and for many years diligently
sought for light upon this vitally important matter. Finally,
in his eighteenth year, he became converted, of which he wrote,
as follows: "While on the verge of despair, I was walking
along a narrow, solitary path in the woods, poring over my help-
less case and saying to myself, 'Woe is me, woe is me, for
I am undone forever. I would I were a beast of the field.' I
found myself wishing I was like the little oak when it died and
crumbled to dust. At that moment light broke into my soul,
and I believed in Christ for myself and not for another, and
went my way rejoicing." He was baptized by his father into
the fellowship of the Phillips's Mill church, July 8, 1787, being
in his eighteenth year.
His first effort at public speaking was made in the home of
his grandmother Mercer, an humble log cabin, the occasion be-
ing a Sabbath day prayer meeting. He spoke upon the general
judgment. His grandmother was greatly pleased with this,
his first attempt. He used frequent opportunities for exhorta-
tion. It is not known just when he was formally licensed to
preach, but it was only a short time after his baptism.
On January 31, 1788, then only in his nineteenth year, he
42 .l//-;.\" OF MARK
•
married Sabiua drivers, of Wilkes county. She was baptized
about the same time that Mr. Mercer was and became a member
of the same church. One who knew her well wrote : "She was
indeed a helpmeet for her husband, for besides her ordinary
domestic duties, she spun and wove with her own hands all the
cloth he wore, and gained not a little renown through the coun-
try for the neatness and beauty of her manufacture. Notwith-
standing she was a most affectionate wife and delighted in the
company of her husband, she was very careful to throw no ob-
stacle in the way of his fulfilling his appointments punctually,
and was always mindful to have his clothes put up and every-
thing ready. She submitted with great fortitude to the lonely
life she led in his absence." Soon after his marriage his
father gave him one hundred acres of land, upon which he
erected a neat log cabin and opened up a small farm. In the
meantime he prosecuted his ministerial labors.
His first charge was Xew Sardis Church, Hutton Fork,
"Wilkes county. He served this church for more than twenty
years. A contemporary said of him: "Xever was a minister
more immovably rooted in the respect, confidence and affections
of his people. To all classes of the community he was an ob-
ject of deep interest. The wise regarded him with admiration,
whilst the most illiterate could see enough in him to revere and
love. Such an exhibition as he made, for a long series of
years, of high intellectual powers, sound discriminating judg-
ment, engaging and amiable virtues, strict and unbending in-
tegrity in all his dealings with men, and, above all, of sincere,
honest and undeviating devotion to the cause of his Divine
Master, would naturally secure to him the position which he
occupied in the hearts of his brethren and in the estimation of
his fellow-citizens at large."
In 1799 he traveled and preached in the States of South
Carolina and Virginia, covering more than three thousand miles
in the tour. Practically, the founder of the Georgia State Con-
vention, he was a regular attendant upon its annual sessions,
his own Association, and visited other Associations in the State
JESSE MERCER 43
in so far as the demands upon his time would permit. There
was a great lack of satisfactory hymn books in those early days,
and Mr. Mercer compiled a book, which he called "Mercer's
Cluster." This book was first published in Augusta. Later,
two more editions were published. While in attendance upon a
General Convention in Philadelphia, in 1817, he published a
revised edition of two thousand five hundred copies. Subse-
quent editions were published in 1820, 1826 and 1835. The
book had an extensive circulation in Georgia, Alabama and
Mississippi.
While Mr. Mercer generally kept aloof from politics, he did
not consider himself excluded from the rights of citizenship,
and on proper occasion took active part. In 1798 he was a
member of the convention that formed the Constitution of the
State of Georgia, which in itself was an honor to any man, in
view of the great work performed by that convention. It is
related that during the session of the convention some lawyer
moved that ministers be ineligible to the office of legislator.
Mr. Mercer amended this motion by inserting doctors and law-
yers. He finally withdrew his amendment on the condition
that the original proposition should also be withdrawn. In
1816 he was a candidate for the office of State Senator, but was
fortunately defeated. In 1833 some of his friends desired to
announce his name as a candidate for the office of Governor.
He would not listen to this proposition.
In 1826, Mr. Mercer took up his residence in Washington,
Wilkes county. There was no organized Baptist church in
that place and his services had been less appreciated by the peo-
ple at Washington than at any other community that he visited.
Yet he was deeply impressed that the Lord desired his locating
there. In December, 1827, a church was organized with ten
members, and Mr. Mercer was called to the pastoral charge.
The church steadily grew during his pastorate.
In 1833 the Christian Index, which had been published at
Philadelphia and edited by Rev. W. T. Brantley, was bought by
Mr. Mercer. Editorial duties were not congenial to him, and
44 MEN O.F MASK
he called to his assistance the Eev. "W. H. Stokes, whose name
gave character to the editorials and the general conduct of the
paper. In 1840 he generously tendered the Christian Index,
with the press and all its appendages, to the Baptist State Con-
vention. The gift was accepted and the paper moved to Pen-
field.
In 1835 the degree of D.D. was conferred upon Mr. Mercer
by the Board of Fellows of Brown University, Providence, R. I.
He was seldom recognized, however, or addressed as Dr. Mercer.
From the beginning of his career he was at all times an able
and indefatigable advocate of education. He was untiring in
his efforts to disseminate correct views on this subject among
the Baptists of the State. He made strenuous efforts to establish
an academv at Mount Enon, Richmond county. It was
«.' i/
opened in 1807, but after a few years of usefulness became
encumbered with debt and failed. Mr. Mercer was especially
impressed with the importance of a well-educated ministry, and
in the effort to establish a college in the District of Columbia he
was active, became a trustee, and through his influence large
contributions of money were secured in Georgia. The Baptist
State Convention of South Carolina wanted the cooperation of
Georgia Baptists for the establishment of a literary and the-
ological institute in that State, and though Mr. Mercer was in-
clined to favor the plan it did not become popular in Georgia.
At that time the plan most advocated by the Baptists of Georgia
involved a manual labor department. At the annual meeting
of the State Convention at Buckhead, Burke county, April
1831, the following resolution was adopted: "Resolved, That
as soon as the funds will justify, this Convention will establish
in some central part of the State a classical theological school,
which shall unite agricultural labor with study, and be opened
for those only who propose to enter the ministry." At the
next meeting of the Convention, this plan was so amended as to
admit others. This was not Mr. Mercer's plan. Indeed, he
opposed it, but finally took hold of it with his accustomed zeal.
It was soon determined that the institute when established
JESSE MERGER 45
should bear his name, as much of its success depended upon his
liberality and generous support.
Josiah Penfield, a wealthy Baptist, residing in Savannah,
who died in 1829, left a bequest of $2,500 to aid in the edu-
cation of poor young men preparing for the ministry, under
the direction of the Convention, and to be used only after an
equivalent sum had been raised by that body. The requirement
was met at once. In 1832 a site was chosen, in Greene county.
Two double log cabins were constructed and the school was
opened in 1833, with Rev. B. M. Sanders in charge, aided by
two assistants. There were thirty-nine students in attendance.
The school prospered and grew in favor. In 1837 there was
a movement to establish a Baptist College, at Washington, and
$100,000 was subscribed. It was then determined to add a
collegiate department to the school in Greene county and if
possible divert the money contributed to the Washington enter-
prise. This was accomplished, and sixty thousand dollars were
added to the endowment of the Greene county school. A town
was laid out around the institution and named Penfield in honor
of the donor of the first contribution. Mr. Mercer strenuously
opposed the defeat of the college at Washington, but finally
vielded. and. before the end of the vear, subscribed five thousand
V ti
dollars for the endowment of the Collegiate Department at Pen-
field. From that time he turned toward the institution his
warm support and his princely munificence. From that time
forward the institution had the untiring devotion of Mr. Mer-
cer's great soul, as a member of the Executive Committee and
of the Board of Trustees.
He was a man of princely liberality. In all he gave be-
tween thirtv and thirtv-five thousand dollars for the mainte-
«, t/
nance of Mercer University. He gave at one time $5,500
to foreign missions, and subsequently another contribution of
$5,000 to the same cause. He was deeply interested in the
higher education of the generation of the day. Possibly he
was moved to this course because of his own personal lack. He
had really received but little mental training, because his op-
46 MKN OF MARK
portimities were limited and meager. Married at nineteen
years of age, this contributed an additional hindrance to his
education. Even after marriage, however, he attended the
school of Mr. Springer, a Presbyterian minister, and, later he
studied languages one year, under the direction of a Mr. Armor.
Mr. Mercer was a capable man in a business way, and accu-
mulated some property.
After years of a happy married life he lost his wife, and later
married Mrs. E"ancy Simons, widow of Capt. A. Simons. Mrs.
Simons was a woman of large wealth, who shared fully in his
spirit of liberality toward worthy enterprises, and her means
added to his own, not only relieved him from secular care, but
enabled him to make large donations which were of such im-
mense value in those early days.
Jesse Mercer was not the founder of the Baptist Church in
Georgia. That honor belongs to Daniel Marshall, who organ-
ized the first Baptist Church in the State. Perhaps second to
him comes Silas Mercer, father of Jesse Mercer, but while it is
true that Jesse Mercer was not the founder of the church, it is
also true that the Baptist Church owes more to him than to
any other man. He published the first hymn book. It was
through him that in 1823 the Baptist State Convention was or-
ganized. Through him in 1833 the Christian Index, the first
religious paper in the State, was founded, a paper which now
having passed the three-quarter century mark is still sending
out its weekly issues for the edification of the people. To him,
Mercer University, which is an honor to the State, owes every-
thing. A liberal contributor to it during his life, when he
died, he left his entire estate to its endowment, and as long as
the institution stands, Jesse Mercer will not be forgotten in
Georgia. He has the distinction of having given the largest
amount to Christian education of any Georgian, living or dead.
He founded the first missionary society and was its most liberal
supporter. He found the Baptist Church in Georgia a weakly
infant, struggling for life, and he left it a stalwart youth ready
to enter and to cultivate all fields. He was essentially an or-
JESSE MERGER 47
ganizer and his work abides. Not its most eloquent preacher,
not its greatest orator, Jesse Mercer easily stands first as the
greatest man the Baptist ministry in Georgia has yet produced.
In May, 1841, his faithful wife died and he was left a lonely
old man. He continued the work, however, according to his
strength, and in August he left Penfield and journeyed to Indian
Springs, where on the last Saturday in that month he attended
the meeting held by James Carter, at the Springs, and from
there went to the residence of Mr. Carter, eight miles from the
Springs. Here he fell ill, and on the sixth of September, 1841,
he died. In his last moments he threw his arms around the
neck of a nephew who was present and drawing him close to
his lips, he said: "I have no fears."
W. J. NOETHEN.
fultus C.
AMONG the notable men who figured on the pages of Geor-
gia history between the Revolutionary and Civil War
periods was Col. Julius C. Alford, of Troup County,
popularly known as "The old war horse of Troup." Colonel
Alfrord came from a North Carolina family settled in "Wake
county of that State, and which was of English de-
scent. His grandfather, Lodwick Alford, Sr., served in the
patriot armies during the Revolutionary War and was a mem-
ber of the General Assembly of North Carolina in 1778. His
father, Lodwick Alford, Jr., served in the War of 1812 as a
captain, and immediately after the close of that war immigrated
to Georgia and settled at a point five miles from the present
town of West Point. Lodwick Alford, Jr., had married Judith
Jackson, a daughter of Reuben Jackson, of North Carolina, who
distinguished himself at the Battle of New Orleans. Julius C.
Alford was their oldest son and was born at Greensboro, N. C.,
May 10, 1799. When his father moved to Georgia, Col. Alford
remained at Greensboro as a student in the law office of Col.
Foster. He remained in North Carolina until after his mar-
riage to Eliza Cook, and he then followed his father to Troup
county, and in order to be near him settled at the place now
known as LaGrange. In a public meeting held there he sug-
gested that name for the place, because it was the name of La-
fayette's home in France, and Col. Alford was a great admirer
of that great Frenchman.
His wife was one of three sisters. They were the daughters
of George Cook, an Englishman living in Florida under the
Spanish rule. When Indian troubles arose, Colonel Cook left
homte to meet the Indians and was killed in battle. His body
servant, a faithful slave, fled home with the news, pursued by
the Indians. All the negroes fled except this faithful body serv-
•
1
50 MEN OF MARK
•
stands, and moved to Tuskegee, Ala., and later to the prairie
country below Montgomery. He was busy with his profession
and large farming interests, and threw himself into politics.
He was twice candidate for Congress, but was each time de-
feated, and the latter part of his life was spent looking after his
practice, his plantation interests and in long camp hunts with
his son-iu-l;i\v. Mr. Baldwin. Another son-in-law, A. E. Cox,
stated to a granddaughter of Colonel Alford that he was not a
secessionist but being a delegate to the Secession Convention
;it Montgomery went with the majority and made it unanimous,
and although then old and in feeble health raised a company in
his county, which he supplied frnm. his private means for sev-
eral years. During the Civil War, on his plantation the looms
were kept busy weaving cloth, the women knitting socks and
the tannery making leather for shoes for the Alford Guards.
Late in life he had married a second time a woman devoted
to the southern cause, and a granddaughter said that on one
occasion she was profoundly moved at seeing his lovely little
daughter seated on a high gate-post handing socks to each mem-
ber of the Alford Guards as they filed by the gates going off to
Montgomery. One of his sons, George Cook Alford, a brilliant
lawyer of Alabama, gave his life to the Confederacy, and Colonel
Alford, notwithstanding a strong desire to live to see the end of
the war fell into ill health and finally died in January, 1863.
He was a man of strong, rugged character and ardent tem-
perament, and on occasions would burst forth into torrents of
eloquent speech. Hon. Albert H. Cox, of Atlanta, Ga., a
prominent lawyer of the present day, is a grandson of "The old
war horse of Troup."
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
^Hilton
DR. MILTON ANTHONY, (or Antony as the name is fre-
quently spelled), founder of the Medical College in Au-
gusta, came from a family which has left a strong im-
press upon the State of Georgia. His paternal ancestor was
Mark Anthony, who settled in Virginia. One of his descend-
ants, Col. William Candler, was the progenitor of the famous
Gaudier family of Georgia. Three of the Anthony brothers,
Mica] ah, Joseph, and Mark, came to Wilkes county, Ga., after
the Revolutionary War, and Dr. Milton Anthony is said to have
been a son of Joseph. He was born in 1784, it is uncertain
whether in Virginia just before his people came to Georgia, or in
Wilkes county, just after they came. His early educational
advantages were limited, but he was a lover of learning, acquired
such education as was possible in those days, selected the medi-
cal profession, and by hard work wrought himself forward to
the front rank.
He settled in Augusta, and in 1822 his name headed the list
of the members of the medical society of Augusta. In 1825 the
Legislature created the State Board of Physicians and made him
one of its members. In 1828 the legislature authorized the
establishment of a medical academy within the corporate limits
of Augusta and made Dr. Anthony one of the trustees. He had
already, in connection with Dr. Joseph A. Eve, one of his pupils,
a species of medical school conected with the hospital, but was
handicapped by the inability to confer degrees. In 1829 the
Medical Academy was changed to the Medical Institute of the
State of Georgia, and in 1833 to the Medical College of Georgia.
Of this institution Dr. Anthony is the founder, and his most
strenuous labors were put into getting it on a sound footing,
never resting till he had seen a substantial edifice, supplied with
library and museum. While he only lived five years after the
52 MEN OF MARK
•
establishment of the college, he had the pleasure of seeing sixty-
two physicians graduate in those five years.
In August, 1839, the yellow fever epidemic broke out in Au-
gusta. That was its first appearance there. There were no
experienced nurses. The faculty had but little experience, and
Dr. Anthony did superhuman work in this emergency and so
overtaxed his strength that when attacked in turn by the dis-
ease, he became an easy victim, and died September 19, 1839.
He was buried in the college grounds, with a Latin inscription
on the slab covering his remains and a marble memorial tablet
placed in the lecture room setting forth his abilities, his labors
and his virtues. He was a man of the most exemplary charac-
ter, of great ability in his chosen profession, enormous industry,
and a patriot of the highest type.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHES.
JSamel tippling.
A1STIEL APPLING, a sterling patriot and gallant soldier,
was born in Columbia county, Auugst 29, 1787. An-
other authority gives the date of his birth as August 25.
His father, John Appling, was a native of Virginia, and on
coming to Georgia settled in what was at that time Richmond,
now Columbia county. His mother, Rebecca (Carter) Appling,
was a daughter of Gen. Langdon Carter, a prominent citizen of
Virginia, who became one of the pioneer settlers in Tennessee.
John Appling was intimately connected with the Cobbs, Craw-
fords, Fews, Candlers, Lamars and Hamilton s, whose descend-
ants have so nobly illustrated Georgia in every period of her
history. With these men, he soon became prominent in State
and county affairs, and was chosen a member of the Convention
which met at Louisville, then the capital, in 1795, to amend the
constitution of the State. He was also conspicuous in his
opposition to the Yazoo Fraud.
Daniel Appling was educated in private schools of Columbia
county, which at that time were said to be the best in the State.
He finished his education under that eminent, distinguished and
eccentric teacher, Dr. Bush, (whose real name was Bushnell),
said to be the most classic and scientific teacher of his day, in
Georgia. Young Appling received not only a good English
education, but obtained a fair knowledge of Greek and Latin.
In 1805, at the age of eighteen, he enlisted in the regular
army of the United States and was commissioned lieutenant.
For a little while he was a recruiting officer and was then sta-
tioned at Fort Hawkins, a fort on the Ocmulgee River opposite
the present city of Macon. His commanding officer was Capt.
(later General) Thomas A. Smith. In the Indian troubles then
prevalent, young Appling distinguished himself. From Fort
Hawkins his command was ordered to Point Peter on the St.
Mary's River on the southern border. Here on several occa-
sions he proved himself an efficient officer and daring soldier.
54 MEN .OF MARK
His military fame, however, was firmly established by his ex-
ploits in the War of 1812, first at the battle of Sandy Creek,
near Sackett's Harbor, on Lake Erie, in 1814. History records
no exploit that is surpassed by the brilliant achievements of
that occasion. Captain Woolsey left the port of Oswego the
28th of May, with eighteen boats loaded with naval stores de-
signed for Sackett's Harbor. He was accompanied by Major
Appling, with one hundred and thirty of the Eifle Eegiment, and
about the same number of friendly Indians. They reached
Sandy Creek on the next day, where they were discovered by the
British gunboats, and in consequence entered the creek. The
riflemen were immediately landed and posted in an ambuscade.
The enemy ascended the creek and landed a party, which en-
deavored to ascend the bank. The riflempn arose from their
concealment, pouring a fire upon them, so that in less than ten
minutes the British surrendered, officers and all. Major Ap-
pling lost only one man. As spoils he gained three gunboats
and several small vessels, fully equipped. For his conduct in
this affair, Appling was brevetted lieutenant-colonel, and when
Colonel Forsyth was killed, he was transferred to the command
of his regiment.
In the attack on Plattsburg, Colonel Appling with his rifle-
men and Indians rendered a most important service. The Brit-
ish General Prevost, with 14,000 men marched into New York
to attack Plattsburg while an English squadron was to at-
tack the American squadron on the lake. Fighting was
commenced on the lake, the Americans achieving quite a vic-
tory. In the meantime, the small land forces held the 14,000
English veterans in check. Prevost, hearing of the naval vic-
tory, when the Americans headed by Appling made a deter-
mined charge, hastily retired, leaving his sick, wounded, and
military stores, and hastened into Canada to prevent his own
capture. "Though the panegyric of general orders is some-
times liable to suspicion" said a brave comrade of his, "those
who know Colonel Appling well see in the commendation be-
stowed on him only a just tribute to the merit of a most gallant
soldier and honorable man."
DANIEL APPLING 55
When the war ended Appling returned to Georgia, receiving
the congratulations of his countrymen. On October 22, 1814,
the Georgia Legislature in session passed the following resolu-
tion: "While the Legislature of Georgia views with a lively
sensation the glorious achievements of the American arms gen-
erally, they can not but felicitate themselves particularly on the
recollection of the heroic exploits of the brave and gallant Lieut.-
Col. Daniel Appling, whom the State is proud to acknowledge
her native son, and as a tribute of applause from the State which
gave him birth, a tribute due to the luster of his actions, be it
unanimously resolved that his Excellency, the Governor, be, and
he is hereby requested to have purchased and presented to him.
an elegant sword suitable for an officer of his grade."
Before the resolution was carried into effect Colonel Appling
died on March 18, 1818. The next legislature resolved, how-
ever, to have the sword purchased and deposited in the Execu-
tive Chamber, there to be preserved and exhibited as a lasting
memorial of Colonel Appling's fame. For more than fifty
years' this sword was kept in the Executive Office, first at Mil-
ledgeville, and later at Atlanta. In 1880, under Governor
McDaniel's administration, the Georgia Legislature by resolu-
tion, made the Georgia Historical Society of Savannah the per-
manent custodian of the sword. It hangs on the wall of the
society library.
On December 15 following Colonel Appling's death in March,
1818, a new county was created in South Georgia and named
Appling in his honor. When in 1826 the county seat of his na-
tive county was incorporated, it was also called Appling in
memory of his distinguished services. There is some uncer-
tainty as to the exact date of Colonel Appling's death, the ac-
cepted authority being the date given above, and another who
wrote in 1829, stating that he died on March 5, 1817. What-
ever the correct date, it is certain that he was cut off at about the
age of thirty, leaving behind him a brilliant reputation as a
soldier and a patriot of the strongest character.
BEBNAED SUTTLEE.
F
OR the last siege of Savannah during the Revolutionary
War, a detachment of troops under Colonel Posey was
sent from Virginia to Georgia. With these soldiers of
the Continental line there marched a young lieutenant who had
been with Washington's army during its maneuvers in oSTew
Jersey, and in the battles of Monmouth, Trenton, Brandywine
and the siege of Charleston. His home was in Albernarle
county, Va., and he belonged to "an old and distinguished
family famous for sterling virtues and clear heads."
Gov. George R. Gilmer in "Georgians" wrote of them: "The
original Meriwether stock must have been struck out from some
singular conjunction. Their long intermixture with other fam-
ilies has not deprived them of their uniqueness. ]STone ever
looked at or talked to a Meriwether but he heard something
which made him look or listen again." When John P. Kennedy
in "Swallow Barn" depicted with his Irish humor and quaint
philosophy the manners and characteristics of early Virginians
of James River Valley, it could hardly have been mere chance
that caused him to call the typical family Meriwether. There
is much in Frank Meriwether, master of "Swallow Barn," with
his "fine intellectual brain" and solid worth to suggest salient
traits observed by historians and genealogists in the family of
"'Clover Field," the old Meriwetlicr manor house in Albemarle
county. The family of this name in America all trace their
lineage to Nicholas Meriwether, who was born in Wales in 1647,
and coming to Virginia married Elizabeth Crawford, daughter
of David Crawford, gentleman of Assasquin in Xew Kent
county. He acquired great wealth and owned many fine horses,
some plate, a great many negroes and several large tracts of
land ; one near Charlottesville granted by George II of England
contained 17,952 acres, and there is on record in Virginia Land
DAVID MERIWETHER 57
Kegistry office, between the years 1652-64 patents to the extent
of 5,250 acres in Westmoreland county. There were numer-
ous other grants of later date in ISTew Kent county. Nicholas
Meriwether's grandson, Col. James Meriwether, married Judith
Burnley; these were the parents of Gen. David Meriwether of
Georgia,
The young lieutenant under Washington who marched in
1779 to the siege of Savannah was a fair representative of the
old planter class of Virginia, of whom it is said: "In war and
in peace they were the peers of the men of any age." The
route from Virginia to Savannah lay through the county of
Wilkes, and at least one soldier on the inarch noted the fertile
lands of this section, a section destined to attract many high-
class settlers and to gain historical interest, as "that one corner
of Georgia where those who were fighting for the independence
of the republic made their last desperate stand." The battle of
Kettle Creek was not far removed in time or place.
There are records to show that Wilkes had other allurements
for Lieutenant Meriwether than fertile lands. He was taken
prisoner at the siege of Savannah and paroled ; while on parole
he returned to Wilkes and married Miss Frances Wingfield.
After the war was over he came here to settle and was hence-
forth identified with the development of his adopted State.
Gen. David Meriwether belonged to that honorable and ines-
timable class, the planters of the old South, "the main reliance
of leaders in all great movements, those tillers of the fruitful
earth, those silent but cheerful contributors to a prosperity that
overflowed with pleiitifulness, those who led lives which for all
reasonableness in life living, in the accumulation and in the
handling of the goods around and within their reach, in their
support of benign institutions, in their domestic rule, in their
ungrudging, unconstrained hospitality, were never outdone in
this world." A writer of State history refers to General Meri-
wether as "that sterling Virginia soldier and Georgia states-
man." While the modest records of his public services exhibit
no brilliant qualities as orator or politician, during the forma-
58 MEN OF MARK
tive period of Georgia history, the talents and influence of his
fine mind and character were often called into requisition.
Without ambition of place, he stood for "freedom, good govern-
ment, good education, prudence and economy in public office,
and the best welfare of all."
Education was the most important interest to Georgians
after the conflict of the Revolution, for they were a people who
cherished above worldly possessions the higher attributes of
mind and character.
David Meriwether settled in Wilkes county in 1785, two
years after the town of Washington was laid out. In June of
that year commissioners met for founding the old academy on
fiercer Hill; they were Stephen Heard, Zachariah Larnar,
Micajah Williamson and Gen. George Matthews. David Meri-
wether became a member of this board of trustees, and soon
after the building of the academy was begun, he applied to Sena-
tus Acadimicus of the University of Georgia assembled at Louis-
ville, Ga., July, 1797, to locate the University at Washington,
offering funds and buildings. But the offer was rejected. Ten
years before the founding of Athens General ]\Ieriwether gave
land for the first Methodist school in Georgia. This was Suc-
coth Academy, near Coke's Chapel in Wilkes, and was under the
management of Reverend John Springer, a highly educated
Presbyterian minister, and Rev. Hope Hull, the gifted pioneer
Methodist who married Ann Wingfield, sister of General Meri-
wether's wife. Succoth Academy became a classical school of
repute. Here the famous Jesse Mercer pursued his studies.
John Forsyth and William H. Crawford, General Meriwether's
young Virginia kinsman, who became Georgia's greatest states-
man, were enrolled among the pupils. It was probably due to
the influence of Hope Hull that in 1788 General Meri wether
made public profession of religion, and joined the Methodist
Society in Wilkes. He was a man of prominence when the
Methodists were very humble, and although wealthy when the
Methodists were very poor, he was always a bold, simple hearted
member of the church. As a Christian he was useful and
DAVID MERIWETHER 59
frequently applied to for counsel by his junior brethren. His
house was a house of prayer. He was not like some great men,
ashamed of the gospel of Christ.
Daniel Grant, the staunch Methodist and builder of the first
church of this denomination in Georgia, was a neighbor and
friend of General Meriwether. Moved by the influence of
Bishop Asbury, Daniel Grant was the first man in the State,
from conscientious motives, to free his slaves. His will, which
is curious reading at this day, was signed July 4, 1793, and
General Meriwether was one of the executors. A few years
later when member of the Legislature from Wilkes, David Meri-
wether caused enactment of laws legalizing the terms of Grant's
will for manumitting slaves.
Prior to 1788 the name of David Meriwether appeared on
jury lists of Wilkes. Among family papers there is a receipt
from the "Cheque-office" of Wilkes, showing him collector of
taxes for the year 1794. There is also preserved his commission
as lieutenant under Washington, dated "15th day of May, 1779,
in the fourth year of our independence." Also the commission
given by Governor Jared Irvin, as brigadier-general of the
Third Division of the State Militia, dated Louisville, 21st of
September, 1797. He represented Wilkes in the Legislature
for several years and his name appears in "Marbury and Craw-
ford's Digest of Georgia Laws" as Speaker of the House dur-
ing 1797-1800.
In 1802 he was elected Congressman from Georgia with
Peter Early, Samuel Hammond and John Milledge. He
served on Ways and Means Committee in 1804. Gen. James
Jackson, then Senator from Georgia, writing to Gov. John Mil-
ledge mentioned General Meriwether as a sterling fellow, and
this was his legislative character, justifying the motto of the
family Coat of Arms, — "Vi et consilio."
In politics General Meriwether naturally belonged to the
Crawford party in Georgia. While in the United States Con-
gress he was a witness and participant in the memorable strug-
gle between Jefferson and Burr, being a warm supporter of the
60 MEN OF MARK
former. There was personal friendship as well as political
affiliation between General Meriwether and Jefferson. Presi-
dent Jefferson had been a plantation neighbor of the Meri-
wethers in Virginia, and employed as his private secretary a
young cousin of the general, who, as a boy (in 1788) had lived in
Wilkes county, and afterwards led the Lewis-Clark expedition
across the continent. Mr. David Meriwether, of Jackson,
Tenn., a great-grandson, has inherited the watch given as a
token of esteem by Jefferson to General Meriwether.
His probity, fidelity and sound judgment made David Meri-
wether valued by State and general government for filling places
of public trust. He was presidential elector in 1817 and 1821,
and wras repeatedly employed as United States Commissioner for
treating with Indians. He was associated with General Jack-
son and Governor McMinn, of Tennessee, in concluding a
treaty with the Cherokees by which a large portion of the terri-
tory west of the Appalachee was ceded to the United States. In
connection with Daniel M. Forney, of ^orth Carolina, he made
a treaty with the Creeks ; and having much to do with the tribes
in Georgia secured their confidence to an extent equal to any
public man in his day. A copy of the treaty by Meriwether and
Forney, among others relating to Indian affairs, is preserved in
a collection of family papers.
General Meriwether served in Congress from 1802-1807, and
at the expiration of his term returned to his plantation home six
miles from Athens, Ga. This year his son James graduated
with first honor at the University ; he became a lawyer and
member of Congress, trustee of the University and United
States Commissioner to the Cherokee Indians. The following
year another son, William, graduated with first honor ; he be-
en me a physician and was surgeon in the United States army
during the War of 1812. General Meriwether had seven sons
and one daughter and not one discredited his name.
There is among family papers a letter of several pages writ-
ten in fine, scholarly hand by Colonel Benjamin Hawkins to
General Meriwether, dated "Creek Agency, 18th April, 1S07,"
DAVID MERIWETHER 61
and beginning as follows : "As you are authorized by the Sec-
retary of War and Postmaster-General to carry the second act
of the convention at Washington with the Creeks into effect, I
wish to communicate to you what has been done here," etc.
This related to the establishment of a post route from the city
of Washington through the Creek nation to New Orleans, and
shows General Meriwether's active interest in internal improve-
ments of the day. It was over this post road that seven years
later Sam Dale rode express from, the Creek Agency carrying
government dispatches to General Jackson, reaching him on the
eve of the glorious victory on the Plains of Chalmette. Gen-
eral Meriwether's connection with Indian affairs continued
through 1820, when with General David Adams and John Mc-
Intosh he was appointed by the General Assembly of the State
to hold a treaty with the Creek Indians. Among the Meri-
wether papers is a letter from General Adams approving of Dr.
William Meriwether as Secretary of the Commission and of
Mineral Springs on the Indian side of the Ocmulgee River as
a proper place for holding the meeting. The treaty being suc-
cessfully concluded, Dr. Meriwether, secretary, rode express to
Washington City and delivered the papers to government au-
thorities. This treaty procured the cession of land from the
Creeks which lies between the Ocmulgee and Flint rivers, and
was General Meriwether's last important act of public service.
Meriwether County, laid out in 1828, was named for him.
Since 1804 General Meriwether's home had been on his plan-
tation near Athens. That it was a home of substantial comfort,
open hospitality and Christian refinement we can not doubt. It
was headquarters for the Methodist itinerant and here bishops
and statesmen were entertained. Proximity to a center of cul-
ture and connection by consanguinity with the Hulls, Cobbs,
Crawfords and other prominent families of the State made
social life distinguished and delightful. At this home General
Meriwether died in 1823, and was there buried. After his
"toils and sacrifices as a faithful soldier of the \7irginia line
throughout the Revolutionary War, as pioneer settler of Georgia
62 MEN OF MARK
and upbuildcr of this State, he sleeps in a forgotten and un-
marked grave, — as do many planters of the Old South, as vir-
tuous and honored in their day." Of such it has been truly
said: "They grew old, died and were buried in family grave-
yards, wherein seldom even a carved stone was set to mark the
place of their graves. Great public actions done by the most
distinguished were put upon official records, but no more. ^
They coveted for their own names no mention on historic pages.
The immortality they hoped for, besides being unforgotten of
their nearest and dearest was that on that Great Day in the
Hereafter when final judgment of human actions shall be an-
nounced, theirs would be that their gifts had been employed in
habitual loyalties to what was just and honorable and charitable.
Humblv trusting; that such would be their award, when their
*/ O
hour drew near, without complaint they 'looked around and
chose their ground and took their rest.' :
MRS. HOWARD MERI WETHER LOVETT.
fames gL Jlerttoetfjer.
JUDGE JAMES A. MERIWETHER, of Eatonton, ranked
high among the Whig leaders of the State for the most of
his active years. He was a native Georgian, descended
from one of the Virginians who came into the State after the
Revolution. Receiving a good education, he studied law, was
admitted to the bar, and in due course became a loyal leader
among the Whigs and was sent to the Legislature, in which he
served several terms and became Speaker of the House. He
was promoted to be Judge of the Superior Court of his district
and elected as a Whig representative from Georgia to the
Twenty-seventh Congress. He served his term from May 31,
1841, to March 3, 1843. After his return to Georgia he was
again sent to the Legislature as a representative of Putnam
county, elected Speaker of the House, and died while holding
that position. In the "Life and Times of Joseph E. Brown,"
this estimate was made of him in 1857 by Governor Brown:
t/
"James A. Meriwether, another Whig leader, has also lately
gone, of whose mental powers a higher estimate is due than
many of his associates and friends were willing to award him."
Judge Meriwether was a lawyer of fine attainments, a sound
jurist, a strong judge, of excellent personal character, and no
man during his life was more highly esteemed by those who
had the pleasure of his acquaintance, while the Whig party in
Georgia regarded him as one of their soundest and safest
leaders.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
fames
CIIAELES JAMES McDOJSTALD, the nineteenth gover-
nor of Georgia, who held that office from 1839 to 1843,
was a native of South Carolina, born at Charleston on
July 9, 1793. His parents moved to Hancock county, Ga.,
when he was a boy and his early educational training was re-
ceived at the hands of the Rev. ISTathan S. S. Beman, one of the
famous teachers of that day. He then entered the South Caro-
lina College, at Columbia, and was graduated in 1816. Leav-
ing college, he entered the law office of Joel Crawford, and after
a year of study under that eminent lawyer was admitted to the
bar, in 1817. Governor McDonald's abilities were of such a
pronounced order that in 1822, after five years at the bar, he
was made Solicitor-General of the Flint circuit, and in 1825 be-
came the judge of that circuit. Like many men of his day he
had taken an active part in the State militia, and in 1823 had
been elected to the post of Brigadier-General. As judge of
the Flint circuit, his prudence and firmness were often called
into play, as he presided over the frontier district in which there
was naturally a lawless element. He was a member of the
lower house of the General Assembly in 1830. In 1834 he
was elected to the State Senate and again in 1837. His pre-
vious career at the bar and on the bench gave him prestige in
the General Assembly, and he took high rank in that body.
Indeed, he had, acquired such prominence that in 1839 he was
elected to succeed Governor Gilmer as Governor of Georgia.
He came into office under trying circumstances. The State
treasury was empty. The evil effects of the great panic of
1837 were still pressing upon the people like a nightmare. The
great work of building the Western and Atlantic Railroad was
languishing. The public debt had been increased to one million
dollars, — an enormous sum! in those days. Worst of all, the
CHARLES JAMES McDONALD 65
State credit was at a low ebb, because of the protest of an obli-
gation of three hundred thousand dollars which had been con-
O
tracted by the Central Bank under authority of the General
Assembly. Commerce and business generally were paralyzed.
A preceding act of unwisdom was largely responsible for the
evil condition of the State's finances. In 1837 the Legislature
had passed an act allowing the counties of the State to retain
the general tax, the same to be applied by the inferior courts to
county purposes. As might have been expected, the counties
frittered away the money. The bank was nearly destroyed by
placing upon it a burden which did not belong to it, and the
State was left without resource or credit.
Governor McDonald had inherited from his Scotch ancestors
a hard head and sound judgment. IsTever did he need his in-
herent qualities more than he did in the situation which then
confronted him. He first recommended that the State resume
the entire amount of State tax which had been given to the
counties with but little benefit to them and greatly to the in-
jury of the State. This recommendation prevailed, and a law
was enacted ordering the State tax turned into the State
treasury. Almost immediately following this necessary action^
in 18-41 the Legislature passed an act reducing the taxes of the
State twenty per cent. This act Governor McDonald promptly
vetoed, with an argument brief and pointed and a statement of
the conditions which made his veto message unanswerable. He
had been reelected in 18-il, and on November 8, 1842, in his
annual message urging upon the Legislature the only effective
remedy for relieving the State from its difficulties, he used these
words : ''The difficulty should be met at once. Had there been
no Central Bank the expense of the government must have been
met by taxation. These expenses having been paid by the Cen-
tral Bank, they become a legitimate charge upon taxation. This
must be the resort, or the government is inevitably dishonored.
The public faith must be maintained, and to pause to discuss
the question of preferences between taxation and dishonor would
be to cause a reflection upon the character of the people whose
5
66 MEN. OF MARK
servants we are." The issue was joined. The Legislature had
rejected a measure calling for additional taxation to meet these
just claims. The session was near its close. It was evident
that unless some drastic action was taken the Legislature would
adjourn, leaving an obligation of one hundred and ten thousand
dollars unprovided for. Governor McDonald acted with firm-
ness and promptness. He shut the doors of the treasury in the
face of the members of the General Assembly. Great excite-
ment followed. The members of the Legislature denounced
him as a tyrant worse than Andrew Jackson, who had proceeded
beyond all reasonable limits. Even his political friends, alarmed
at the storm that had been raised, urged him to recede from his
position and rescind his order to the Treasurer. He resolutely
refused. As a result, the necessary bill was finally passed and
at the next session he was able to report an improved condition
of the finances and a revival of confidence in the Central Bank.
It was without doubt a most fortunate thing for Georgia that
at that critical period in the affairs of the State a man of
Governor McDonald's firmness, prudence and business sagacity
was put at the head of her affairs.
A strong advocate of popular education he used these words
in addressing the Legislature: "The first thing to be regarded
in a republic is the virtue of the people. The second, their in-
telligence, and both are essential to the maintenance of our free
institutions. The first inspires them with a disposition to do
right. The second arms them with power to resist wrong."
During his term of office, in August, 1840, a party of In-
dians from. Florida made a raid into the counties of Camden
and Ware, murdering and plundering. Governor McDonald
promptly informed the Secretary of War and without waiting
on the action of the Federal government took effective measures
for the security of the people. Later he presented the claims
of Georgia for expenditure incurred in this matter to the general
government, and their justice being recognized the State was
reimbursed.
CHARLES JAMES McDONALD 67
Governor McDonald was a strict constructionist of the Fed-
eral Constitution. He always held to the position that the
Federal and State governments were distinct powers, each sov-
ereign in its own sphere, and neither had a right to interfere in
the affairs of the other when acting within constitutional limita-
tions. In every question of disputed authority, therefore, he
fell back upon the Constitution itself and made that the final
arbiter. Ever ready to maintain the rights of his State, he was
always ready to concede to the general government everything
granted under the Constitution. During his term he had occa-
sion to make some very sharp criticisms on resolutions passed
by an anti-slavery convention in London, and on the action of
the Governor of New York in refusing to deliver up a fugitive
slave, and in his correspondence with Governor Seward he made
a most masterly exposition of the constitutional question.
In 1850 he was defeated for Governor by Howell Cobb, and
in that same year was a delegate to the Nashville States-rights
Convention. Tehre he took high ground in regard to southern
rights and held that the people of these States had a right to
move with their property into the territory newly acquired
from Mexico and advocated the adoption of the Missouri Com-
promise recommended by the Nashville Convention. In the
controversy raging at that time over this matter, he said : "If
the Constitution of the Union were administered according to
its letter and spirit, the South would not complain." In 1855,
Governor McDonald was appointed a member of the Supreme
Court of Georgia, and held that position until 1859. He died
at his home in Marietta on December 16, 1860, in the sixty-
eighth year of his age.
As a judge, he was rigidly just and a most capable inter-
preter of the law; in personal life, a man of stern integrity,
yet with much benevolence of heart. Of methodical, untiring
industry, calm judgment, urbane manners, and absolute fidelity
to every trust, he enjoyed universal respect and esteem from
the people of Georgia. On occasions when political deals were
suggested to him, the rewards of which would have been per-
68 MEN OF MARK
sonal preferment, his invariable answer was: "I have never
bargained for any office, and if I do not receive it without con-
ditions, I shall never reach it." In the line of distinguished
men who have filled the office of Governor of Georgia, it is
simple justice to say that not one served more capably, more
acceptably or more effectively than Governor McDonald.
In 1819, he was married to Anne Franklin, the daughter of
Dr. Franklin, of Macon, Ga. Of this marriage, there were four
children. Subsequent to the death of his wife, he married, in
1839, Mrs. Ruffin, of \7irginia, who was the widowed daughter
of Judge Spencer Roane, of Virginia. There wras no issue of
this marriage.
In the present generation, several of the descendants of Gov-
ernor McDonald have reached distinction in their chosen pro-
fession, among whom may be mentioned Judge Spencer R.
Atkinson, — now a prominent lawyer and a former judge of the
Superior and Supreme Courts of Georgia ; Judge Samuel C.
Atkinson, — who is at present judge of the Supreme Court of
Georgia ; Hon. Harry F. Dunwoody, a prominent lawyer of the
State, who resides at Brunswick, Ga., and who was a former
State Senator; Hon. Alex. A. Lawrence, a leading lawyer, who
resides at Savannah, Ga., and who is at present a Representa-
tive in the General Assembly from the county of Chatham.
The first three mentioned are grandsons, and the latter a great-
grandson, of Governor McDonald.
SPENCER R. ATKINSON".
3Fame£
THE McINTOSH CLAN headed by its chief, John Moore
Mclntosh, came to Georgia with General Oglethorpe.
From that time to the present, in peace and war, the
Mclntosh family has been one of the most notable in the State,
and in every war waged by our country, both in the army
and navy, they have served as gallant soldiers and sailors.
Col. John S. Mclntosh, fourth son of Col. John Mclntosh,
one of the Revolutionary officers of the family, was born in
Liberty county, the seat of the Mclntosh family, June 19,
1787. He inherited the military tastes of the family, and
when the War of 1812 broke out, entered the army as a lieu-
tenant and was attached to a rifle regiment in which he saw
hard service on the northern frontier and in Canada. In
May, 1814, a detachment of his regiment, under command
of Major Daniel Appling, another Georgian, was detailed as
a guard for a number of supply boats, under command of
Captain Woolsey, of the navy, which were going from Oswego
to supply certain new vessels of war then being built at Sack-
ett's Harbor. After leaving Oswego they entered Sandy
Creek with the intention of landing the supplies, which were
then to be conveyed overland to Sackett's Harbor. Sir James
Yeo, the British commander of the lake fleet, dispatched sev-
eral gunboats and cutters to capture these stores and the
escort. The British entered the creek and disembarked a body
of marines and sailors to carry out the orders of their com-
mander. Major Appling's small detachment of riflemen, learn-
ing of the approach of the enemy, concealed themselves in the
woods, and as soon as they were sufficiently near poured into
them such a deadly fire that in a few minutes the whole were
killed, wounded or prisoners, not a man escaped, nor a gunboat.
This complete defeat led the British commander to raise the
70 MEN OF MARK
• >
blockade. Major Appling won great recognition for his con-
duct in this matter, and the Legislature of Georgia compli-
mlented Lieutenant Mclntosh with a sword. In another com-
li;it with the enemy at Buffalo, he received a severe wound. On
his recovery he married a New York lady and rejoined the
army, becoming an officer in the regulars. At the close of that
war he was employed in different sections, served with General
Jackson throughout the Indian War, and for a considerable
time commanded the post at Tampa, Fla. He was transferred
from there to Mobile, and later to the command of Fort Mitchell
in Georgia during the exciting controversy with the Federal
government. This was a situation of great delicacy for a na-
tive Georgian, but he contrived to obey his orders without giving
offense to his native State. He was then sent west of the
Mississippi River and stationed for a time at Fort Gibson, Ark.,
then transferred to Prairie DuChien, Wis. He was then in
command of Fort Winnebago, Wis., Fort Gratiot, Mich., and
finally, Detroit, Mich., from which place he was ordered to
Texas in anticipation of trouble with Mexico. He arrived at
Corpus Christi in October, 1845, and reported to General Tay-
lor. By this time he had risen to the rank of a Colonel in the
regular army, and on the advance to the Rio Grande was in
command of a brigade. At the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca
de la Palma, on the 8th and 9th of May, 1846, he distinguished
himself, receiving in the first-named battle at the head of one
regiment a charge of fifteen hundred lancers, and repulsing
them with great slaughter. In the next day's battle the struggle
was more desperate, and in charging the Mexican lines, his
horse was killed in the chapparal, and a number of ambushed
Mexicans sprang upon him. He was pinned to the ground
with bayonets, one going through and breaking his left arm,
and another thrusting him in the mouth, the bayonet passing
through his neck and coming out behind the ear. Leaving him
for dead the Mexicans ran. Dragging himself forward in this
dreadful condition, he met Captain Duncan, of the artillery,
who not noticing his ghastly wounds at first glance, asked him
JAMES SIMMONS McINTOSH 71
for support. The Colonel replied with great difficulty that he
would give him the support, and asked for some water. Ex-
hausted from loss of blood, he soon fell. At first his recovery
looked hopeless, but they sent him for a brief stay in Georgia
and a few months with his children in iSTew York, and though
yet feeble he applied for service in the war still raging in Mex-
ico. On his way back to the seat of war, he visited Savannah,
where his fellow-citizens presented him with a handsome sword.
Arriving at Vera Cruz he was placed in command of a baggage
train, with a large amount of money to pay the army, and started
for the city of Mexico. Attacked by guerrillas, he held his
ground until reinforced by General Cadwallader, from Vera
Cruz. After a tedious march with many skirmishes he reached
the headquarters of the army and assumed command of the
Fifth Infantry, a regiment which loved him as a father. He
led his regiment in the battles of Contreras and Cherubusco, and
at the murderous combat of Molino del Rey, in which last strug-
gle he was mortally wounded while at the head of his regiment.
He survived his wounds several weeks and died in the city of
Mexico, deeply regretted. The commanding general of division
in the hard- fought battle in which Colonel Mclntosh fell, said :
"In my official reports, it has been among my most pleasing and
grateful duties to do full justice to an officer and soldier, than
whom none, not one, is left of higher gallantly or patriotism.
He died as he lived, the true-hearted friend, the courteous gen-
tleman, the gallant soldier and patriot." The Legislature of
Georgia ordered his remains removed from Mexico to his native
State, and the citizens of Savannah followed them to their last
resting place in the tomb of his venerated kinsman, Major-
General Lachlan Mclntosh, on March IS, 1848. Colonel Mc-
lntosh was a soldierly man of middle size, strong and active, of
fair complexion, quick of temper, taciturn with strangers, kind
and cheerful with his friends.
Of his sixty years of life, thirty-five were given to the military
service of his country. He left four sons and one daughter.
One of his sons, James McQueen Mclntosh, was a captain in
72 MEN OF MARK
•
the regular army at the beginning of the Civil War. He re-
Hirnril his cuiiiiiiis>i(in, !rii<]<T<'<] his services to the ( !onfederacy,
was commissioned brigadier-general, and fell at the battle of
Pea Ridge, Ark., in 1802, while gallantly leading his brigade.
Another son, John Baillie Mclntosh, entered the old navy,
served a few years and resigned. In 1861 he went with the
Union, served during the entire war with distinction, rising to
the rank of brigade commander. Remained in regular army
after the war, and retired in 1870 with rank of brigadier-general.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHEK.
OTtUtam
GENERAL WILLIAM McIXTOSH, a half-breed of the
Muscogee or Creek Indian nation, and a member of the
Coweta tribe of that nation, was a son of Captain Wil-
liam Mclntosh, a Scotchman who spent years of his life on the
western frontier of Georgia. A sister of Captain William Mc-
Intosh married the father of Governor George M. Troup, so that
Governor Troup was a first cousin of the celebrated Indian chief.
The mother of William Mclntosh was an Indian woman of un-
mixed blood. He was born about 1780. Of his early life little
is known beyond the fact that he was a tall, well-formed, hand-
some man, of graceful manners, intelligent and brave. He had
acquired a moderate education and by constant intercourse with
the whites became a polished man. He steadily gained influ-
ence in his tribe and cultivated friendship with the neighboring
whites until the outbreak of the War of 1812, by which time he
was the principal man in his section of the Creek nation.
When the War of 1812 broke out and the majority of the Creek
nation was influenced to take sides with the British, Mclntosh
threw in his lot with the Americans and became next in rank to
Colonel Benjamin Hawkins in organizing a regiment of friendly
Creeks. He served under General Floyd at the Battle of Autos-
see and under General Jackson at the battle of the Horseshoe.
In both of these engagements he distinguished himself, and in
the Florida campaign was credited with numerous acts of gal-
lantry. In that campaign he led two thousand warriors. So
great were his services to the Americans that finally he was
rewarded with the rank of brigadier-general and came to be the
recognized chief of the Cowetas. He was a lifetime friend of
his cousin, Governor Troup, and cooperated with him in the
efforts to secure from the Creeks the cession of their lands and
their consent to remove to the West. There were long years
74 MEN OF MARK
•
of trouble and strife on the borders of Georgia and Alabama
between the Indians and whites, and in February, 1825, there
was a great meeting of the chiefs at Indian Springs, Ga., for
the purpose of negotiating with the whites a new treaty. By
this time Mclntosh had incurred the bitter hostility of the con-
servative element in the Creek nation, but believing that he was
acting in the best interests of his people, he went ahead with the
negotiations, and on the twelfth of February the Mclntosh party
signed the treaty with the commissioners. This treaty was
ratified at Washington, March 3, 1825. When it was known
that the treaty was ratified, there was an immense excitement
among the Indians. Mclntosh with other chiefs went to Mil-
ledgeville, interviewed Governor Troup, expressed their fears of
hostility from the other faction of the tribe, and craved protec-
tion. That protection was promised, but it must be confessed
was not given.
On the 29th of April, 1825, a party of Indians from Ocfuskee
and Tookabatcha, two Creek towns, variously estimated at from
170 to 400, after a hurried march, attacked General Mclntosh
at his home. Upon the discovery of the assailants, General
Mclntosh barricaded his door, and when it was forced met them
courageously with his gun. There was with him in the house
at the time Etomme Tustenugee, his son-in-law Hawkins, his
son, Chilly Mclntosh, and a peddler. Tustenugee fell at the
first discharge after the door was forced. Mclntosh retreated
to the second story and with four guns under his hands fought
with great courage. The Indians set fire to the house and he
came down to the first floor. Wounded in many places, he was
dragged out in the yard, but to the very last he raised himself
on one arm and looked defiance at his murderers. An Ocfuskee
Indian then stabbed him to the heart, and after destroying the
house and much other property, the Indians departed. His
son-in-law Hawkins also was slain, his son Chilly Mclntosh
escaped, while the peddler and women were spared.
William Mclntosh was a man of very considerable ability,
sound judgment, much more far-seeing than the other Indian
WILLIAM McINTOSH 75
chiefs with whom he was associated. He tried to serve his
nation faithfully. It was his misfortune to be at the head of
a turbulent people who could not understand the strength of
that white movement which was pressing forward from the east.
Mclntosh was a devoted friend of the American people, and at
every period of his life rendered them such service as his
opportunity and strength permitted.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
Hobicfe
REV. LOVICK PIERCE, the great father of a great son,
is perhaps the most historic character in Georgia Meth-
odism. He was a native of North Carolina, bom in
Halifax, March IT, 1785. He lived until November 9, 1879,
when he died at Sparta, Ga., in his ninety-fifth year. Nearly
seventy-five years of that period was spent in the Methodist
ministry. In his early youth his people moved to Barnwell
county, S. C. His educational advantages were limited to
six months schooling at the "old-field" schools of his day.
Coming under religious convictions as a youth just about grown,
in January, 1805, then not quite twenty years old, he with his
brother Reddick, then twenty-two years old, applied for ad-
mission to the South Carolina Conference of the Methodist
church, which met at Charleston in that year. Both were
admitted. Never was there a greater contrast between two
brothers — Reddick, strong of frame, vigorous of mind, and
rugged in every sense of the word, while Lovick was shrinking,
sensitive and timid. Reddick's life work as a preacher was
mainly in South Carolina, and many people acquainted with
him regarded him as quite the equal of his more famous
brother. The South Carolina conference then comprised part
of North Carolina, all of South Carolina, and so much of
Georgia as was then settled.
Young Pierce was sent to the Appalachee circuit with Joseph
Tarpley as an associate, the custom of that day being to send
two preachers to a circuit, in order that the younger man might
have the benefit of the older's experience and counsel. This
first circuit comprised what is now the counties of Greene,
Clarke and Jackson. While the majority of the people in his
circuit were rude and unlettered, there was yet a percentage
of the most prominent men of the State and highly cultured
•
(Mfaer
OLIVER H. PRINCE, lawyer, United States Senator,
literary man and industrial promoter, one of the bril-
liant figures of Georgia in the first half of the nineteenth
century, was born in Connecticut about 1787. On his mother's
side he was descended from the Hillhouse family, long a leading
one in Connecticut. His grandfather, William Hillhouse, served
fifty years in the General Assembly of Connecticut, both in the
colonial times and after it was a State. He was a judge of the
Court of Common Pleas for forty years, and a delegate from
Connecticut to the Continental Congress from 1783 to 1786, and
died in 1816, aged eighty-eight. His uncle, James Hillhouse,
son of William, born 175-4, was a lawyer and served in the
Second and Third Congresses as a Federalist, succeeded Oliver
Ellsworth in the United States Senate, serving from 1796 until
1810, member of the Hartford Convention, commissioner of the
school fund from 1810 to 1825, and treasurer of Yale College
from 1782 to 1832, a period of fifty years. David Hillhouse,
a brother of the Senator, made Georgia his home, and it was
through him that 0. H. Prince came to the State in his youth.
A brilliant young man, he was ready for admission to the bar
before he was of age, and was admitted by special act of the
Legislature in 1S06. He gained reputation almost from the
start and sustained himself with great ability for thirty years.
On the resignation of Thomas W. Cobb from the United States
Senate in 1828 Mr. Prince was elected to fill the vacancy for
the unexpired term. The contest was very close and he won only
by one vote. He married a Miss Norman, whose sister became
Mrs. Washington Poe, of Macon. But one child survived him,
Mrs. James Mercer Green. His only son, wrho bore his father's
name and inherited his intellect, was afflicted with ill health and
died suddenly after arriving at manhood. He had his father's
80 MEN OF MARK
strong sense of humor and kindliness. This son left several chil-
dren. A daughter of O. H. Prince married James Roswell
King. She died comparatively young. James W. King, of
Roswell, was her son.
In 1822 Mr. Prince published a Digest of the Laws of Geor-
gia, and in 1827 a second publication of the same. In 1837
his Digest had then been in use for fifteen years, and it was time
for a new edition. It had been accepted by the Legislature, and
Mr. Prince went north with his wife to supervise the publica-
tion, lie took the steamship '"Home" from ITew York to
Charleston, the first passenger steamer on that route, and this
being its second trip. The "Home" was wrecked, October 9,
1837, in a storm near Ocracoke Bar, ]ST. C. Of ninety passen-
gers on board only twenty were saved, and among the lost were
Mr. Prince and his wife. Fortunately, the publication of the
Digest was already assured, and it served the legal profession
up to 1851, when it was superseded by the Digest of Thomas R.
R. Cobb.
In addition to being both a brilliant and strong lawyer, Mr.
Prince was a man of fine literary taste, the author of many
humorous sketches, one of which, an account of a militia drill
in Georgia, having been translated in several languages, and
later reproduced in Judge Longstreet's famous book entitled
"Georgia Scenes." Mr. Prince presided at the first Convention
called in the State of Georgia for the purpose of promoting rail-
road building, and took an active interest in that movement,
which in the fifteen years succeeding his death resulted in secur-
ing three great railway lines for Georgia.
His sense of humor is said by his contemporaries to have been
coupled with great kindness of heart, which made him not only
a delightful companion, but a most popular man. His character
was most exemplary and his untimely death was greatly mourned
by his contemporaries.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHES.
JXtdjarb
DR. RICHAKD BA^KS, one of the most shining orna-
ments of the medical profession in this State since its
organization, was a native Georgian, born in Elbert
county in 1784. After obtaining the rudiments of education,
he entered the State University, taking a classical course, gradu-
ating in the same class with the famous Chief Justice Joseph
Henry Lumpkin. Later he decided to study medicine and en-
tered the University of Pennsylvania, where, after a two years'
course he was graduated with the degree of M.D., in 1820. He
then spent one year in the hospital work, and returning to Geor-
gia established himself in practice in the village of Ruckersville
in his native county. It would be considered remarkable in the
present time that a man of Dr. Banks's abilities should have
chosen such a location, but in those days when railroads were
not, it was not so material a matter.
A man of profound modesty, detesting notoriety, and a hater
of the methods of the charlatan, he would not even allow his
friends to make publication of his wonderful cures. In spite
of this, his fame spread rapidly and widely, and people within
one hundred miles would have no other doctor if they could
get Dr. Banks. All over upper Georgia and South Carolina his
reputation extended. Considering the time in which he lived,
his skill as a surgeon was remarkable, and some of the cures
which he effected and operations which he performed with the
limited facilities then at hand, the use of anesthetics being-
then unknown, would do credit to the best practitioners of the
present time. On one occasion when he had performed a very
remarkable operation and his friend, Dr. Spalding, wrote a re-
port of the case for a medical journal and submitted it to Dr.
Banks, he refused to consent to its publication. In cases brought
to him, where the implements then in use or accessible were not
6
82 MVN OF MARK
adequate to the emergency, such was his skill that he devised and
had made others that suited the case. One of his earlier tri-
umphs was the successful removal of the parotid gland at a
time when the best anatomists and surgeons were hotly discussing
the question of its possibility. He performed an enormous num-
ber of operations for cataract and for stone in the bladder, for
many years being the only surgeon in a vast expanse of country
who would attempt these, and his percentage of recoveries was
very great. Some years before his death he stated to a friend
that in sixty-four lithotomy operations there had been but two
unsuccessful cases, and there were probably other operations
after the statement was made.
Space does not permit explanation of his methods, but they
were very original and very successful. He did not seem to
attach any great importance to his methods or even to compre-
hend the importance of what he was doing. It was all in the
day's work of the faithful physician.
In 1832 he moved to Gainesville, in Hall county, where he
resided until his death in 1850. This town was within a few
miles of the Cherokee Indians at the time of his removal there,
and the Federal government employed Dr. Banks to visit the
Indians and see if he could alleviate the ravages of smallpox.
He performed this duty, vaccinated many of them, and treated
many, and greatly amazed the Indians by restoring to sight a
number of them who had been blind for years. It is pleasant to
know that his practice brought him in such an income that he
acquired a competency and was enabled to rear his family in
easy circumstances.
In honor of his memory, the General Assembly of Georgia in
1858 organized the county of Banks.
A. B. CALDWELL.
iUtUtam
DR. WILLIAM BARKETT was a son of Xat Barnett, who
came from Amherst county, Va., to Georgia in the Revo-
lutionary period, and he was kin to the Crawford family
which cut such a large figure in Georgia history. William Bar-
nett and his brother Joel were both gallant soldiers of the Revo-
lutionary struggle, both being then young men. He married
Mary Meriwether, a daughter of Frank Meriwether, also Vir-
ginians, and located first in Columbia county, but later settled
in Elbert. The opening of a new country is always a cause of
much sickness, and when that is combined with a mild climate,
the sickness is increased. There was in that early time a great
demand for doctors, and with some natural aptitude for the pro-
fession, Dr. Barnett took up the practice of medicine. He was
of kindly temperament, very agreeable in his manners, and
plausible in speech. Of limited education, he was yet a close
observer and quick of perception. Though there was much need
for doctors, there were many in that pioneer day unable to pay
for their services, and Dr. Barnett gave his services freely to the
poor, without regard as to whether they were able to pay him or
not. He became, as a result of his personal popularity, sheriff
of his county. He was then sent to the General Assembly for a
number of years and became president of the Senate. In 1812,
when the elder Howell Cobb, then a member of the Twelfth Con-
gress, resigned to take up active service in the army, Dr. Barnett
was a candidate to fill out Mr. Cobb's unexpired term. His
opponent was the celebrated John Forsyth, one of the great men
of Georgia history, and whose reputation was afterwards national
and international. Dr. Barnett ran as a States-rights Democrat,
and an evidence of his popularity is to be found in the fact that
he beat Forsyth in that campaign. He was reelected to the
Thirteenth Congress, which carried his service up to March 2,
84 MEN OF MARK
1815, and immediately after the close of the session he was ap-
pointed by President Madison a member of the commission to
establish the boundaries of the Creek Indian reservation.
This was his last appearance in the public life of the nation,
though he may have later served his constituents in positions of
a local character. His wife., who bore him six children, was
profoundly devoted to him, and her death was brought on by that
devotion. The doctor was desperately ill of a fever and his life
despaired of. She became so wrought up and despairing of his
condition that she fell ill and died, while he recovered. Years
later he married Mrs. Bibb, a widow and the mother of William
Wyatt Bibb, United States Senator and Governor of Alabama.
Both were then somewhat advanced in life, with grown children,
and their interest being mainly in their children, with much
time spent in visiting them, eventually they drifted apart, and
Dr. Barnett moved to Alabama, where, after a residence of a
few years he died.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
OTiliiam ^rat <§ouib.
JUDGE WILLIAM TRACY GOULD (of Augusta) was
born in Litchfield, Conn., October 25, 1799. He was the
son of Judge James Gould, and his wife, Sallie McCurdy
Tracy. He came from a long line of accomplished men on
both sides of the family. The ancient family estate of Pride-
hams Leigh, in North Tawton, Oakhampton parish, county
Devonshire, England, is yet in possession of a member of the
family. The first American ancestor was Richard Gould, born
in Devonshire, England, in 16G2. With his son, Dr. William
Gould, he emigrated to America in 1720, and settled in Bran-
ford, Conn. His grandson, William, Jr., was born on November
17, 1727. Judge James Gould, son of William, Jr., and the
father of William Tracy Gould, was born at Branford, Decem-
ber 5, 1770, and married Sallie McCurdy Tracy, of Litchfield,
Conn., October 21, 1798. James Gould's sister, Elizabeth, was
the wife of Roger Minott Sherman, one of our distinguished
Revolutionary statesmen. Judge Gould's maternal great-grand-
mother was Elizabeth Tracy, of Norwich, Conn., and his grand-
father, General Uriah Tracy, was for ten years United States
Senator from Connecticut. He died in 1807, and was the first
person buried in the Congressional Cemetery, at Washington.
Judge W. T. Gould's father, Judge James Gould, graduated
at Yale, in 1791, and delivered the Latin salutatory, then the
highest honor to the graduation class. He then became a tutor
at Yale. In 1795 he entered the law school at Litchfield, and
after admission to the bar became associated with Judge Reeve
in conducting the famous law school which for fifty years was
the leading school in the United States for that profession. In
May, 1816, he was appointed Judge of the Superior Court and
Supreme Court of Errors, of Connecticut. In 1820 Yale be-
stowed upon him. the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. He
86 MEN OF MARK
was one of the most accomplished and competent writers who
have ever written upon any branch of English jurisprudence.
His great work on pleading is a model of its kind.
William Tracy Gould entered Yale College in 1813, at the
age of fourteen, and graduated in the class of 1816. At the
conclusion of his academic studies he became a student in the
Litchfield Law School, under the watchful eye of his father, and
was admitted to the bar at Litchfield in 1820. In 1821 he re-
moved to Clinton, Jones county, Georgia. This would appear
now a very curious selection, but at that time there were no rail-
roads, and these little country towns all offered opportunities to
aspiring young professional men. In 1823 he removed from
Clinton to Augusta, where the remainder of his life was spent,
and immediately took prominent place in the professional and
social circles of the citv.
*/
On October 7, 1824, he married Mrs. Anna Gardner Mdvinne.
Of this marriage three children were born, James Gardner, Julia
Tracy, and Henry Gumming.
In 1833 he established a law school at which many young-
men, afterwards distinguished in the profession, received their
legal education. In this he was following in the footsteps of his
distinguished father.
The law school established by Judge Gould in 1833 flourished
for many years. It is not certain just when it was discontinued,
but probably on the outbreak of the Civil War. Among the
many distinguished men who were students at this school under
his direction may be mentioned Judge William Schley, Judge
James S. Hook, Judge Ebenezer Starnes, William A. Walton,
Colonel Richard Malcolm Johnston, James Gardner Gould,
Judge William W. Montgomery, Judge William R. McLaws,
Judge John T. Shewmake, General John K. Jackson, George T.
Barnes, M. C. ; George G. MacWhorter, and numerous other
strong lawyers. Aside from his professional and civic duties,
Judge Gould was profoundly interested in Masonry, and had
in that great Order a most distinguished record. On December
6, 1825, he was initiated as an entered apprentice in Social
WILLIAM TRACY GOULD 87
Lodge, ~No. 1. By a special dispensation from Right Worshipful
Deputy Grand Master Slaughter, he was passed to the degree of
Fellow Craft, and rose to the degree of Master Mason on Decem-
ber 16, 1825. January 6, 1826, he was appointed Junior Dea-
con of his lodge, and on December 1, 1826, less than one year
after his initiation, he was elected Worshipful Master. On
December 12, 1828, he was again elected Worshipful Master.
January 25, 1826, he became a Royal Arch Mason in the
Augusta Chapter. For a number of years he held the position
of High Priest of Augusta Chapter, jSTo. 2. He was Grand
Marshal of the Grand Chapter of Georgia from 1829 to 1846,
and Grand High Priest for several years. He became a member
of the Georgia Commandery, ISTo. 1, Knights Templars, on
March 18, 1826, and was elected Grand Commander of the State
in 1860, which position he held until 1868. He made many
speeches and addresses in public and in the lodge room on
Masonry. JSTot only a leader in the order, he was one of its most
illustrious and honored members. His portrait now odarns the
walls of the lodge room, where it has hung for many years, and
is still greatly cherished.
Judge Gould was married a second time to Miss Virginia
Highbie Hunter, daughter of Wimberley Hunter (formerly of
Savannah, Ga.), on September 20, 1864. Of this marriage
there were three sons, William Hunter, Wimberley and George
Glenn Gould.
Judge Gould died July 18, 1882, honored and venerated by all
who knew him. At the time of his death, Judge James S. Hook,
who had received his legal training from Judge Gould, delivered
a most beautiful and impressive memorial address in his honor
at a special memorial meeting held by the court. In the present
generation his descendants are among the most accomplished and
highly esteemed people of the State.
On the Fourth of July, 1848, Judge Gould delivered the ad-
dress at the laying of the corner stone of the monument to the
memory of Governor George Walton and Lyman Hall, two of
the three Georgians who signed the Declaration of Independence.
88 MEN OF MARK
In the Weekly Republic, published at that time, in the issue
of July llth, appeared the following comment: "Honorable
William T. Gould delivered a very fine address to the large audi-
tory present, who seemed deeply and favorably impressed with
the classic style and appropriateness of its sentiments."
In February, 1851, he was elected Judge of the Court of
Common Pleas of Augusta, afterwards known as the City Court,
which office he held until 1877, a period of twenty-six years.
Judge Gould was greatly beloved by his professional brethren.
His standards of conduct were of the highest. His demeanor
was always that of amiability and substantial kindness. He was
most agreeable socially, being well educated and decidedly humor-
ous and witty. Notwithstanding that three-fourths of his long
life was spent in the South, he never lost his alert, bustling Xew
England ways. His sentiments, however, were thoroughly south-
ern, and during the Civil War he commanded a local company
in the Confederate service, which was composed of elderly men
and was known as the "Silver Grays." This company was not
expected to appear on the battlefield, but did guard duty at home
over Federal prisoners and other local service.
HAEKIET GOULD JEFFEEIES.
arbner
JAMES GARDNER GOULD, the eldest son of Judge Wil-
liam Tracy Gould, and Anna, daughter of James Gardner,
a merchant of Augusta, was born at Sumrnerville, a suburb
of Augusta, August 14, 1825. He came of a distinguished
lineage, which is fully set forth in the sketch of his father,
Judge William Tracy Gould.
J. G. Gould in his youth was a pupil at the Richmond
Academy, a famous school, one of the earliest established in
Georgia, and yet doing effective work. After that he came under
the charge of his father's highly esteemed classmate, Prof. Haw-
ley Olmstead, at Wilton, Conn., where he and his classmate, E.
Olmstead, were fellow-pupils and together prepared for college.
In 1839 Hawley Olmstead became rector of the Hopkins Gram-
mar School at ~New Haven, and young Gould accompanied him
there, entering Yale with the freshman class in 1841. Erom
the very first of his collegiate course he took a high position in
his classes, graduated with first honor and was the valedictorian.
A man of amiable disposition, irreproachable character, and
great intellectual attainments, these qualities made him a uni-
versal favorite in his classes.
After graduation he returned, to Augusta, and studied law in
the school which had been established there by his father in
«/
1833. He was admitted to the bar in September, 1847. In
1848 he was appointed tutor in Yale college, which position he
held for four college terms, and left after commencement in
1849, returning home, where he began the practice of law with
brilliant prospects. Shortly after establishing himself in the
practice, he married Harriet Glascock Barrett, daughter of
Thomas Barrett, a prominent merchant of Augusta, and grand-
daughter of Thomas Glascock, an eminent Georgian and former
speaker of the General Assembly, and a member of Congress.
90 MEN OF MARK
Of this marriage there were two children, Harriet Glascock
Gould, now Mrs. Harriet Gould Jefferies, and James Gardner
Gould.
On July 4, 1853, Mr- Gould, by special invitation delivered
the oration at Augusta, Ga., in commemoration of the Declara-
tion of Independence, and gave a most able and scholarly ad-
dress to a large and appreciative audience, following the example
of his distinguished father, Judge William Tracy Gould, who
had been honored in the same way five years before. This bril-
liant and promising career was cut short by an untimely death.
He had gone to Marietta, Ga., with his wife and child, and there
died. The Superior Court was at the time in session, and on
motion of the Hon. Joseph E. Brown, since Governor and United
States Senator, the court adjourned to attend his funeral, and
he was buried with Masonic honors. During the winter his re-
mains were transferred to the beautiful cemetery in Augusta,
Ga. The following tribute was paid to his memory by his gifted
father:
Man learns from sorrows dark and deep,
From pleasure's fitful gleam—
This world is but a place to sleep,
And human life a dream.
I dreamed I had a noble boy
Of lofty, manly grace,
My hope, my life, my pride, my joy,
The first of all his race.
For years he lived, and moved, and spoke,
And brief those years did seem,
Too soon, in agony, I woke,
And lo! 'twas all a dream.
But light will on the dreamer dawn,
And shadows melt away,
When sunrise ushers in the morn
Of everlasting day.
Then I may hope to meet my boy,
Saved, sanctified, forgiven;
And dream no more, but share the joy,
The "waking bliss" of heaven.
HARRIET GOULD JEFFERIES.
arrett
NAK"CY STROXG, the mother of Thomas Barrett, was
bom in London, England, May 3, 1779. She came
from England to the United States of America with her
half brother, John Hartridge, and his family, in 1797. She
became acquainted with Mr. Thomas Barrett, an Englishman,
(and like herself a native of London), at Savannah, Ga., where
they were married October 20, 1799. She never returned to her
native land. Mr. Barrett and his wife removed to Augusta, Ga.,
where the former engaged in the "mercantile and commission
business," and by his correct deportment and assiduous attention
to business he secured the esteem and confidence of numerous
friends. For a number of years he held the office of Clerk of
the Board of Trustees of the Richmond Academy. He was
Worshipful Master of the Augusta Lodge at the time of the
death of President Washington in 1799, and gave the order that
all brother Masons should wear a "badge of mourning on their
sleeves" for a period, in memory of their distinguished brother.
During the latter part of his life he was incapacitated for
business on account of failing health, which rendered him almost
helpless. He was blessed with an admirable wife, and a charm-
ing family of children — eight daughters and one son. He
looked, however, on the period of his dissolution as that which
could alone terminate his sufferings. He died, aged forty-two
years.
Owing to Mr. Barrett's protracted illness and inability to at-
tend to his business, he left his wife and six children without
means of support. His noble helpmate, however, possessed prac-
tical sense and unbounded energy, and these traits enabled her
to rear her children in such a way that they reflected credit on
their self-sacrificing, Christian mother. She was deeply relig-
ious and was one of the founders of the Augusta Orphans'
Asvlum.
92 MEN OF MARK
Thomas Barrett, the sixth child, was born in Augusta, Ga.,
Auugst 10, 1808. He came of a very high and pure Eng-
lish strain. The late Lady Dilke, (nee Strong), one of the most
brilliant writers on art in the world, wife of one of England's
greatest statesmen, Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke, was his first
cousin. He was an unusually intelligent and ambitious boy. He
attended the school of the eminent Baptist clergyman, Rev. Wil-
liam T. Brantly, and so impressed was he with his pupil's bril-
liant mind that he offered to give him the tuition free of charge.
His mother declined this generous proposition, and at an early
age he was obliged to begin his business life by clerking for his
brother-in-law, Mr. James Carter, who was in the drug business.
He afterwards became the owner of said business and made it
a signal financial success.
He married Mary Savannah Glascock, September 16, 1830,
the daughter of Thomas Glascock, a distinguished lawyer and
leading politician of Georgia, at one time Speaker of the House
(State), and member of Congress. They had six children, three
daughters and three sons. Thomas Barrett held the impor-
tant position of president of the State Bank from 1854 to
1859. He then became the president of the City Bank and held
the place until his death. His financial ability was pre-eminent,
and his advice and opinions were solicited by the leading busi-
ness men of the country. He was pronounced by the distin-
guished Judge John P. King, United States Senator and for
many years president of the Georgia Railroad, "the most pro-
found financier he had ever known," and Hon. Alfre.d Cuni-
ming, at one time Governor of Utah, who traveled extensively,
said he had met young men in different portions of this vast
country who informed him that they were indebted to Mr.
Thomas Barrett for their success and prosperity, for when they
were struggling with poverty he cheerfully gave them pecuniary
assistance. This universally beloved, admired and public
spirited citizen died in the prime of his useful life on April 2,
1865. The sad event cast a gloom over the entire city.
HARRIET GOULD JEFFERIES.
JfranctS Robert <§oulbtng.
THE REV. FRANCIS ROBERT GOULDING had the dis-
tinction of being a son of the first native born Presbyterian
minister in Georgia. He came from the celebrated Mid-
way colony which gave to the country eighty-three clergymen,
besides a large number of lawyers, doctors, authors, statesmen,
soldiers and scientists. His father was the Rev. Dr. Thomas
Goulding, a very eminent Presbyterian minister, who was born
in Liberty county, in 178 G, a son of Thomas and Margaret
(Stacy) Goulding. He was an eminent man in his church, one
of the founders of the theological college at Columbia, S. C.,
held many appointments and was for thirty-five years one of the
most useful ministers of the South. Francis R. Goulding had
the best educational advantages and graduated from the Uni-
versity of Georgia in IS 30. He then entered the theological
school at Columbia, and after two years was graduated into the
ministry. Immediately after entering the ministry he married
Mary Wallace Howard, of Savannah, a woman of great piety
and accomplishments, with a beautiful soprano voice. She it
was who induced Dr. Lowell Mason to put music to Bishop
Heber's famous hymn, "From Greenland's Icy Mountains," and
it was first sung by her in the Presbyterian church at Savannah.
Mr. Goulding served the church at Sumter, S. C., for two
years and then became an agent for the American Bible Society. -
This position gave him an extended field of service, and being a
close observer, he accumulated much information which later in
life he made use of in his books. Of an inventive turn of mind,
in 1842 he built a sewing machine a year or two before Howe's
great invention was patented, but having no mercenary motives,
he did not take the trouble to patent it. In 1843 he accepted a
pastorate at Bath, Ga., the duties of which were light, and he
put -in his leisure time in writing a story which was published
in the American Sunday School Union and well received. He
94 MEN OF MARK
then engaged in writing the book, upon which chiefly his literary
reputation rests, "The Young Marooners." He spent three years
in revising and correcting it, and submitted it to a jSTew York
publisher, only to have it rejected. He then sent it to a Phila-
delphia publishing house. The reviewer gave the manuscript to
his little girl, and the child literally devoured it. Noting this he
took it up himself and began to read it. The interest was so
absorbing that he was not able to lay it down until he had
finished it. The book ran through many editions in this country
and was reprinted by six different publishers in Great Britain.
It rivaled "Robinson Crusoe" in its fascination for the young,
and even older persons found great entertainment in its pages.
Mr. Gouding then moved to Kingston, Ga., where for a time
he taught school and put in his leisure hours on a work, "The
Instincts of Birds and Beasts." His excellent wife, with whom
he had lived in great happiness for twenty years, died in 1853,
leaving him with six children. In 1855 he married again,
Matilda Rees, who owned a beautiful home at Darien, Ga. This
resulted in their moving there, and he resumed pastoral work,
but still gave much time to literary pursuits. On the outbreak
of the Civil War, though in poor health from malaria and hard
study, he became a chaplain in the Confederate Army, and gave
much time and service to the sick and wounded. In 1862 when
Darien was evacuated by the Confederates, his beautiful home
was burned, and his excellent library with a large mass of manu-
scripts was destroyed. At the close of the war he found himself
an elderly man, with a family, and absolutely without means.
He then resumed his pen as a means of support for his family,
and wrote several other popular books, iimmiu1 them, "Marooner's
Island," a sequel to "Young Marooners," "Woodruff Stories,"
"Frank Gordon," "Cousin Aleck," "Adventures Among the
Indians," and "Boy Life on the Water." Pie died at Roswell,
Ga., on August 22, 1881, nearly seventy-one years old, after a
ministry of forty-eight years, leaving behind a record of a life
spent in well doing, and the character of a purely spiritual man,
with a literary reputation of a high order.
BERNARD SUTTLER.
Carlisle pollock peman.
CAELISLE POLLOCK BEMAN was born in Hampton,
Washington county, New York, May 5, 1797. He was
the seventh and youngest child of Samuel Bernan and his
wife, Silence Douglas. His father was of Welsh origin, and his
mother was of that Scotch blood which flowed to America
through Ireland, and which is, therefore, known as Scotch-Irish.
For about three years, from 1807 to 1810, Carlisle Bernan
attended the school of Mr. Salem Town, of West Granville.
The two succeeding years were spent in diligent labor upon his
father's farm.
In the autumn of 1812, when less than 16 years old, he ac-
companied his brother, Rev. Nathan S. S. Beman, to Georgia.
Dr. Nathan Beman was pastor of the Mt. Zion church in Han-
cock county, this State, from 1812 to 1821, and at the same time
he was rector of a large boarding school at the same place.
Carlisle was a pupil at the school of his brother and gave a part
of his time as assistant to his brother in giving instructions to
some of the younger pupils.
Having completed his preparatory studies, he returned to
the North in 1815 and entered Middlebury College, Vermont,
where he was graduated, with the first honors of his class, in
1818.
Soon after graduation he returned to Georgia. In 1820 he
again associated himself with his brother and took charge of
the male department of the Mt. Zioii Academy, while his
brother remained the principal and the teacher of the female
department.
Soon after his return to Georgia, Carlisle Pollock united with
the Presbyterian Church. At Eatonton, September, 1820, he
was received under the care of Hopewell Presbytery as a candi-
date for the gospel ministry. In the meantime he continued his
96 MEN OF MARK
connection with the Mt. Zion Academy and pursued his theo-
logical studies at the same time, until the close of the year 1823.
December 30, 1823, he was united in marriage with Miss Avis
De Witt.
At the beginning of 1824 he took charge of the Eatonton
Academy, but he was forced, by continued ill health, to abandon
the school.
At Bethany, Green county, April 3, 1824, he was licensed to
preach the gospel by Hopewell Presbytery.
In 1827 he assumed the charge of the Mt. Zion Academy,
formerly taught by his brother, as principal, and continued at
the head of this school until his removal to Midway, near Mil-
ledgeville, in 1835, as rector or principal of the Manual Labor
School, then established at that place by Hopewell Presbytery.
This school was soon after elevated to a college under the name
of Oglethorpe University and transferred to the care and control
of the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia, with Rev. C. P.
Beman as its first president. This position he held from 1836
to 1840.
At the meeting of Presbytery at Forsyth, April 5, 1829,
the church of South Liberty, Green county, which had recently
been organized, mainly through his ministry as a licentiate, pre-
sented a call to Mr. Beman for his pastoral labors in that con-
gregation. July 11, 1829, he was regularly ordained and in-
stalled pastor over that people. Eev. Xathan Hoyt preached the
ordination sermon. Mr. Beman retained his connection with
the school at Mt. Zion while pastor of South Liberty Church.
April 2, 1833, his pastoral relations to that church were dis-
solved, having continued only about four years. He never
formed any other pastoral connection.
At the close of the year 1840 Mr. Beman resigned the presi-
dency of Oglethorpe University and removed to La Grange.
He established a high school at that place and remained in
charge until 1844. While residing in La Grange he organized
the Brainerd Church in Heard county, and preached for this
church several years, although the place of worship was twenty
CARLISLE POLLOCK BEMAN 97
miles from his residence, and for five days of each week he was
confined in the schoolroom.
In 1846 he returned to Mt. Zion and established a private
boarding school, with a limited number of boys and young men.
He continued this school until about 1859, when he retired. In
1855 the honorary title of D.D. was conferred upon him by
Oglethorpe University.
In his day Dr. Bernan was regarded as the ISTestor of educa-
tion throughout the South. He had unusual gifts as a teacher
and a disciplinarian. He had thorough knowledge of human
nature, and almost unerring judgment of character. His meth-
ods of instruction were most thorough and his government and
school discipline were firm and positive. He would not for a
moment tolerate or excuse disobedience to authority or the ques-
tioning of his right to govern. He never exacted more than was
just and due, but he was sure to obtain all he called for in con-
duct and in study. When these results were not reached for the
asking, they were always secured through compulsion.
Dr. Beman made no distinction among his pupils as to dis-
cipline. The young and the old; the elementary and the ad-
vanced were all brought under the rod if they could not be
controlled without it. He was a man of great physical courage
and determined purpose. 'No bad conduct ever escaped his
notice, nor did the perpetration of evil deeds ever escape punish-
ment. His methods put into practice for this day would be
considered severe, but it can not be denied that he made many
good citizens of very bad boys and brought under subjection
scores and hundreds of boys who were beyond control in their
homes and such as had become disturbing elements in the com-
munities from which they came.
His patronage extended throughout the South, and for the
latter years of his teaching he was never able to accommodate
the great number of students who applied for places. His school
marked a distinct era in the educational interests of the State.
As a teacher of boys and young men, he was highly gifted in the
talents of imparting instruction and administering discipline.
7
98 MEN OF MARK
The strength of his life was given to shaping, for usefulness, the
characters and minds of the young. In this department of
labor he achieved his highest mission in life.
Dr. Beman was a man of very decided, humble and active
piety, while he had great force and energy of character.
In the early part of the last century the Presbyterian Church
formed a union with the Congregational Church, which proved
quite unsatisfactory. By way of relief, the General Assembly
of the Presbyterian Church cut off four of its Synods in 1837.
These were Geneva, Utica, Genesee and Western Reserve.
This action gave rise to what was known as the "Old School"
and the "New School" churches. This cutting off is known, in
the parlance of the Presbyterian Church, as "The Excision
Act."
Dr. Beman did not approve the excision measures. For a
time, at least, he sympathized with the views of the New School
theologians, y^t when three of his co-presbyters, Rev. C. W.
Howard, Rev. H. C. Carter and Rev. J. H. George, withdrew
from Hopewell Presbytery and organized themselves into a New
School Presbytery, known as Etowah, Dr. Beman refused to
unite with them. On the contrary he employed all of his powers
of argument and persuasion in efforts to dissuade them from,
such schismatic movement.
In 1S57 at Mt. Zion, Dr. Beman and Rev. C. H. Cartledge
had a long argument in private upon the subject of the atone-
ment, Dr. Beman maintaining the New School view. When
hard pressed in the argument, he said : "Brother Cartledge, you
are a man of too much sense and too much logic to believe a just
God would punish his innocent son for sins which he never com-
mitted."
Mr. Cartledge instantly replied: "Brother Beman, you are a
man of entirely too much sense and too much logic to believe
a just God would doom his innocent son to suffer, as he did
suffer, for nobody's sins at all." Dr. Beman attempted no reply,
and from that time forward he manifested toward Mr. Cartledge
CARLISLE POLLOCK BEMAN 99
a very strong and tender attachment, which seemed to increase
with his increasing years.
With the exception of the three years spent in Middlebury
College, his whole life, from his sixteenth year to the day of his
death was spent in Georgia.
Here he pursued his studies preparatory to entering college,
here he studied theology, was licensed to preach and was or-
dained to the full work of the gospel ministry; here he lived,
preached, taught and served most honorably his generation.
Few, if any, of the native born sons of Georgia ever accom-
plished more for the good of church or State in her borders than
this noble adopted son. ISTone entered more heartily into the
spirit of the sixties. Whilst he contributed most liberally of his
substance to the needs of the Confederacy as a loyal son of the
South, he gave his two sons, splendid cultured young men, a wil-
ling sacrifice for the cause he loved as he loved his own life.
Having met the full measure of an honorable and useful life,
Dr. Beman died at his home in Mt. Zion, Hancock county, Sun-
day morning, December 12, 1875.
W. J.
454050 A
Beaton (grantlanb.
THE period from 1800 to 1860 was the golden age of Geor-
gia in a. political sense and a very prosperous period in a
material way. During these six decades the State produced
a large number of public men of the first rank. The State Legis-
lature, which in our day we are too much accustomed to con-
sider a mere training school for young lawyers, was in those
days filled with men who would have adorned the highest posi-
tions in the Nation. Indeed, it was not uncommon for strong
men to prefer the service of the State in the Legislature rather
than that of the Nation in Congress. A foremost and most influ-
ential figure during forty years of that period was Seaton Grant-
land, who was born in ISTew Kent county, Va., June 8, 1782,
and died October 15, 1864, in the eighty-third year of his age.
His father was Gideon Grantland and his mother Sallie Brad-
ford. On both sides of the family his people had been settled
in Virginia for several generations and were among the best
families of that State.
He married Nancy Tinsley, a daughter of Honorable Thomas
Tinsley, who was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates
in 1789-90, and was an intimate friend of Patrick Henry, Ben-
jamin Harrison, Chancellor Wythe, John Marshall and Bushrod
Washington. Thomas and Peter Tinsley were both notable men
of that day. Thomas was born in 1755, and in 1782 married
Susanna Thomson, a daughter of John Thomson. Thomas and
Peter Tinsley, who were leading lawyers, had in their office a
young student, Henry Clay, and it was through the acquaint-
ances he made while in that office that Clay first got the start
that carried him to such heights in our national life. The Tins-
leys were very partial to Clay and did everything they could to
forward his interests.
Seaton Grantland's tastes ran in the direction of newspaper
-
8EATON GRANTLAND 103
worthy of reproduction. He said : "When we think of him, we
feel that not only is one of a former and better epoch gone,
but of this venerable and venerated man we may say 'Gone is the
last of the Romans.' His virtues seemed to belong to the ancient
days. J^o fictitious notion was his, but all reality. His charac-
ter not to seem and to affect, but to be and to do. With an energy
that nothing could enervate, an industry that nothing could tire,
a boldness that nothing could daunt, a truthfulness that nothing
could swerve ; an affection fairly welling over in his manly heart,
what could prevent respect and success in his high career ? A
true patriot, he was by his country honored as such, for it fre-
quently called him to its highest official responsibilities, and
in each and all, whether in Congress, or the electoral college, or
wherever his political duty placed him, the same virtuous integ-
rity, the same high honesty and honor, and the same Roman firm-
ness of purpose and of action always and alike characterized our
departed friend."
A grandson of this eminent patriot, another Seaton Grantland,
is now among the leading financiers of Georgia, and is doing a
man's part in building up the State which his great ancestor
loved so well. BEBISTARD SUTTLEK.
Jfliiter
ILLER GRIEVE, of Milledgeville, lawyer, editor, legis-
lator and diplomat, who for twenty years was the most
influential leader of the Whig party in Georgia, was a
native of Scotland, born in Edinburgh, on January 11, 1801, son
of John and Marion (Miller) Grieve. His family came to the
United States in 1817, first settled at Savannah, from which
place they moved to Oglethorpe county in 1820. Mr. Grieve
lived nine years in Oglethorpe, during which he completed his
education, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and became
a member of the law firm of Grieve and Lunipkiu, at Lexington.
In 1829 he was tendered by Governor Gilmer, who had just then
been elected, a place as private secretary. This he accepted and
moved to Milledgeville, which became his residence for the re-
mainder of his life. In 1833 he bought an interest in the
Southern Recorder, a well-known newspaper of that day, and in
connection with Richard McAllister Ornie, under the firm name
of Grieve and Ornie, he conducted this paper for twenty years.
An able writer, and an enthusiastic believer in the doctrines of
the Whig party, his paper speedily became the spokesman of that
party in Georgia, and was known in the language of the times
as the "Supreme Court of the Whig party." It had a large cir-
culation over the State and wielded a tremendous influence. It
was credited with being the most influential factor in the second
election of Governor Gilmer in 1837, and contributed more than
any other instrumentality to the carrying of Georgia in the presi-
dential elections of 1840 and 1848. In 1841 Mr. Grieve was
sent to the Legislature by Baldwin county, and again in 1843.
It was a period of great financial difficulty and as chairman of
the bank committee of the lower house he rendered valuable
.assistance to Governor Crawford in devising a plan to raise the
note issues of the Central Bank from fifty cents to par. At the
MILLER GRIEVE 105
conclusion of his legislative service he was sent as Charge
d' Affaires to Denmark, where he served acceptably.
Mr. Grieve took a profound interest in education. For many
years he was chairman of the trustees of Ogiethorpe University,
to the founding of which he had contributed twenty thousand
dollars. He was president for a long time of the Board of Trus-
tees of the Georgia Sanitarium. He also took a keen interest in
military affairs and served for years as captain of the Metro-
politan Grays, one of the crack military organizations of that
day.
In 1833 he married Sarah Caroline Grantland, daughter of
Fleming Graiitlaud, who, though he died before he was forty,
had made a great reputation in Georgia. Of this marriage there
were born five sons and four daughters. Mr. Grieve's later years
were spent in retirement at his home in Milledgeville, where he
died in 1878.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
&trf)arb
RICHARD W. HABERSHAM was a member of a famous
Revolutionary family of Georgia. He was born in Sa-
vannah, December 10, 1786. He graduated from Prince-
ton College in 1805, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and
speedily gained prominence both as a lawyer and as an active
participant in the political life of the time. He was elected to
the Twenty-sixth Congress as a States-rights Democrat, and re-
elected to the Twenty-seventh, serving from December 21, 1839,
to December 2, 1842, when he died at his home in Clarksville,
Habersham county, Ga., to which place he had moved from
Savannah prior to his first election to Congress. He was in
Congress during the exciting Harrison presidential campaign,
which brought about a new alignment of political parties in
Georgia, and he with five others of the nine members of Con-
gress elected in 1838, united with the Whig party, being called
by their supporters, "The faithful six." One of his daughters
married John Milledge, of Augusta, and his grandson, Captain
Richard Milledge, of Atlanta, was a gallant soldier in the Con-
federate Army, and is now himself an elderly man. Mr. Haber-
sharn was buried in the old cemetery at Clarkesville and his
gravestone, in addition to his name, date of birth and death,
bears the words "FiKi Patri."
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Jfrancte
LIEUTESTAXT-COLOXEL FRANCIS H. HARRIS, a
gallant soldier of the Revolutionary War, was a native
Georgian. His father, the Honorable Francis Harris, was
among the earliest settlers, having come from England immedi-
ately after Oglethorpe founded the colony. He was able to give
his children good educations, and sent young Erancis as a boy
to England to prosecute his studies. When the troubles between
England and the colonies became acute, he was at college, but
immediately left and arrived in Georgia just in time to be one
of the first to take up arms in behalf of his native State. He
was commissioned captain in the Continental Army, and in a
little while raised to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in command
of a battalion. He led a detachment of Continental troops in an
effort to relieve Charleston when it was besieged by General
Prevost. At General Ashe's defeat at Brier Creek, he made a
gallant defense but was taken prisoner. Later exchanged, he
was present in the battles of Carnden and Eutaw, and displayed
both courage and soldierly ability.
After the active campaigns were over and while General
Greene's army was encamped on the high hills of Santee, in
1782, Colonel Harris died, and was buried near the camp. The
exact location of his grave was never discovered by his relatives.
A young man in his early prime, who had given marked indica-
tions of ability, and who had served his country as a faithful
patriot, his premature death was much lamented at the time.
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&lexanber
ALEXANDER MEANS, A.M.,M.D.,D.D., LL.D., F.E.S.
and member of the American Association for the Ad-
vancement of Science, was a native of Xorth Carolina,
born in Statesville, February 6, 1801.
His father was a native Irishman, his mother of Scotch de-
scent, a Miss McClellau, of Pennsylvania.
He grew up under the tutelage of a pious and intellectual
mother, having such advantages as were accorded at the "Old
Field Schools" of that period, usually taught by well qualified
and earnest pedagogues, who held text-book in one hand and with
due regard for Solomon's injunction, rod in the other.
At an early age, he taught school for a time in Mocksville,
North Carolina, and then, through the influence of friends, he
secured a school in Greensboro, Georgia, which he taught for a
few years. Whilst there he became possessed with the desire to
become a physician. So, leaving his school, accompanied by a
friend, Dr. Colley, of Monroe, he rode horseback through the
Indian country to Transylvania University, Kentucky, then the
only institution of the kind in the South.
He was able to attend but one course of lectures there, but
in 1840-41, the medical college at Augusta, Georgia, conferred
upon him the degree of M.D.
Previous to that, in 1828, he became a local preacher in the
Methodist Episcopal church, and gained readily thereafter, by
his consecration and eloquence a high position upon the rostrum
and in the pulpit of the South.
In 1834, by authority of the church he was placed in charge
of the Manual Labor School, located in Coving-ton, Georgia. In
1838, after long and prayerful consideration, Emory College was
evolved from the needs of the church and the requirements of
the times, and he, a leading spirit in the movement, was placed,
j for a
wieto
*lbya
•^i the
•kthe
^r in the
NANCY HART, one of the notable figures of the Revolu-
tion in Georgia, and in many respects a most remarkable
woman, was probably a native of North Carolina. Her
early history is so little known in a definite way and is so over-
laid with traditional stories that about all the biographer can,
do is to give the little information that is known to be correct
and set forth the stories that were furnished and accepted in her
day as true.
Her maiden name was Morgan. She was probably a woman
of middle age at the time of the Revolution. She married Benja-
min Hart, a brother of Colonel Thomas Hart, who became prom-
inent in Kentucky. Colonel Thomas Hart married Susannah
Gray, of Virginia, and his son, Captain Hart, of the United
States Army, fell at the Battle of Raisin River in the War of
1812. One of his daughters married Henry Clay, another be-
came Mrs. Prindle, and yet another Mrs. James Brown. Thomas
Hart Benton, the famous Missouri Senator, who for thirty years
filled a seat in the United States Senate, and was a statesman
of wide reputation, was a nephew of Thomas and Benjamin
Hart. When the Revolutionary War broke out, Benjamin Hart
and his wife Nancy were living in Elbert county, Ga. Wai-
Woman's Creek, in that county, was named in honor of Nancy
Hart, and later the Legislature of Georgia named Hart county
in her honor because of her exploits and her patriotism. She
was a masculine woman in build, six feet in height, as strong as
a man, could shoot her rifle as well as any of the backwoodsmen,
and could chop off her log in competition with the best axeman.
Illiterate and unsophisticated, possessed of a fierce temper, a
bitter hater of Tories and British, a devoted patriot and lover of
liberty, detesting the settlements and preferring to live on the
extreme frontier, it must be confessed that despite her strong
112 MEN OF MARK
qualities, she was not a lovable personage. Her character was
summed up by one of her compatriots who had lived near her
many yriirs, in looking- at the spot where her cabin had once
stood, in these words : "Poor Nancy, she was a honey of a patriot,
but the devil of a wife."
There was much dispute as to whether she was cross-eyed or
not. The tradition is that she was a cross-eyed woman and that
her enemies, or rather the enemies of her country, were much
disturbed by the flashing fires from her eccentric eyes, but Snead,
whose family was related to the Harts, and who after the war
moved to Georgia, says that when "Aunt Nancy," as she was
called, came to visit them, she was a woman about six feet high,
very muscular and erect, about sixty years of age, with light
brown hair sprinkled with gray, positively not cross-eyed. He
says that from long indulgence of a violent temper her counten-
ance was liable from trivial causes to sudden changes, and that
in dwelling upon the hardships of the Revolution and the perfidy
of the Tories and her frequent adventures with them she never
failed to become much excited. Her husband was not as active
a defender of the country as she desired, and she, therefore,
denominated him a "poor stick." It must be confessed, how-
ever, that Benjamin Hart, though he may not have been a
zealous soldier, was at least a patriot. She was as brave as the
bravest man and feared nothing. Her home was always a retreat
for her country's defenders, and her feeling toward the Tories
was as bitter as that of the celebrated Catrine Montour, of New
York, was for the AVhigs. She had no bowels of compassion
for them and was in favor of exterminating them wherever and
whenever they were caught. She was the mother of six sons
and two daughters, her sons being named Morgan, John,
Benjamin, Thomas, Mark and Lemuel. Her daughters were
Sallie and Kesiah. When she was somewhat advanced in life
her husband died, and this masculine character promptly cap-
tured her a second husband, who was a man many years younger
than she was, and with him trekked out for the far western
frontier, so that her later life is unknown. She was an uncorn-
NANCY HART 113
monly good hunter, and a famous cook. It is said of her that
she could get up a pumpkin in as many shapes as there were
days in the week.
The following stories appear to be authentic : "On the occa-
sion of an excursion from the British camp at Augusta, a party
of Tories penetrated into the interior, and having savagely
murdered Colonel Dooly in bed, in his own house, they pro-
ceeded up the country for the purpose of perpetrating further
atrocities. On their way, a detachment of five of the party
diverged to the east, and crossed Broad River to make discov-
eries about the neighborhood, and pay a visit to their old ac-
quaintance, ISTancy Hart. On reaching her cabin, they entered
it unceremoniously, receiving from her no welcome, but a scowl ;
and informed her they had come to know the truth of a story
current respecting her, that she had secreted a noted rebel from
a company of King's men who were pursuing him, and who, but
for her aid, would have caught and hung him. jSTancy un-
daunted avowed her agency in the fugitive's escape. She told
them she had at first heard the tramp of a horse rapidly ap-
proaching, and had then seen a horseman coming toward her
cabin. As he came nearer, she knew him to be a Whig, and
flying from pursuit. She let down the bars a few steps from
her cabin, and motioned him to enter, to pass through both
doors, front and rear, of her single-roomed house; to take the
swamp, and secure himself as well as he could. She then put
up the bars, entered her cabin, closed the doors, and went about
her business. Presently some Tories rode up to the bars and
called out boisterously to her. She muffled her head and face,
and opening the door, inquired why they disturbed a sick, lone
woman. They said they had traced a man they wanted to catch
near her house, and asked if any one on horseback had passed
that way. She answered no, but she saw somebody on a sorrel
horse turn out of the path into the woods some two or three
hundred yards back. "That must be the fellow," said the
Tories; and asking her directions as to the way he took, they
turned about and went off. "Well fooled," said Nancy, "in
8
114 MEN OF MARK
an opposite course to that of my Whig boy; when if they had
not been so lofty-minded, but had looked on the ground inside
the bars they would have seen his horse's tracks up to that
door, as plain as you can see the tracks on this here floor, and
out of 'tother door down the path to the swamp." This bold
story did not much please the Tory party, but they could not
wreak their revenge upon the woman who thus unscrupulously
avowed her daring aid to a rebel, and the cheat she had put
upon his pursuers, otherwise than by ordering her to aid and
comfort them by giving them something to eat. She replied,
''I never feed King's men if I can help it ; the villains have put
it out of my power to feed even my own family and friends, by
stealing and killing all my poultry and pigs, except that one old
gobbler you see in the yard." "Well, and that you shall cook
for us," said one, who appeared the head of the party; and
raising his musket he shot down the turkey, which another of
the men brought into the house and handed to Mrs. Hart to
clean and cook without delay. She stormed and swore awhile —
for ]STancy occasionally swore, — but seeming at last to make a
merit of necessity, began with alacrity the arrangements for
cooking, assisted by her daughter, a little girl some ten or twelve
years old, and sometimes by one of the soldiers, with whom she
seemed in a tolerably good humor, exchanging rude jests with
him. The Tories, pleased with her freedom, invited her to
partake of the liquor they had brought with them, an invitation
which was accepted with witty thanks.
The spring, of which every settlement has one near at hand,
was just at the edge of the swamp, and a short distance within
the swam]) was a high snag-topped stump, on which was placed
a conch shell. This rude trumpet was used by the family to
give information, by means of a variation of notes, to Mr. Hart,
or his neighbors who might be at work in a field or clearing-
just beyond the swamp, that the "Britishers" or "Tories" were
about ; that the master was wanted at the cabin, or that he was
to "keep close," or "make tracks" for another swamp. Pend-
ing the operations of cooking, Mrs. Hart had sent her daughter
NANCY HART 115
Sukey to the spring for water, with directions to blow the conch
in such a way as would inform him there were Tories in the
cabin and that he "keep close" with his three neighbors who
were with him, till he should hear the conch again.
The party had become merry over their jug, and sat down
to feast upon the slaughtered gobbler. They had cautiously
stacked their arms where they were in view and within reach;
and Mrs. Hart, assiduous in her attentions to the table and to
her guests, occasionally passed between them and their muskets.
Water was called for, and as there was none in the cabin — Mrs.
Hart having contrived that — Sukey was again sent to the spring,
instructed by her mother to blow the conch so as to call up
Mr. Hart and his neighbors immediately. Meanwhile, Mrs.
Hart had slipped out one of the pieces of pine which constitutes
the "chinking" between the logs of a cabin, and had dexterously
put out of the house through that space two of the five guns.
She was detected in the act of putting out the third. The
party sprang to their feet. Quick as thought, Mrs. Hart brought
the piece she held to her shoulder, and declared she would kill
the first man who approached her. All were terror struck,
for Nancy's obliquity of sight caused each one to imagine her
aim. was at him. At length one of them made a motion to ad-
vance upon her. True to her threat, she fired. He fell dead
upon the floor ! Instantly seizing another musket, she brought
it to the position in readiness to fire again. By this time Sukey
had returned from the spring, and taking up the remaining
gun, carried it out of the house, saying to her mother, "Daddy
and them will soon be here." This information increased the
alarm of the Tories, who understood the necessity of recovering
their arms immediately. But each hesitated, in the confident
belief that Mrs. Hart had one eye at least upon him for a mark.
They proposed a general rush. jSTo time was to be lost by the
bold woman; she fired again, and brought down another Tory.
Sukey had another musket in readiness, which her mother took ;
and posting herself in the doorway, called upon the party to
"surrender their d — d Tory carcasses to a Whig woman." They
116 MEN OF MARK
agreed to surrender, and proposed to "shake hands upon the
strength of it" ; but the conqueror kept them in their places for
a few moments, till her husband and his neighbors came up to
the door. They were about to shoot down the Tories, but Mrs.
Hart stopped them, saying they had surrendered to her, and
her spirit being up to boiling heat, she swore that "shooting was
too good for them." This hint was enough. The dead man
was dragged out of the house; the wounded Tory and the
others were bound, taken out beyond the bars, and hung !
Another incident is told by Mr. Snead, as follows : "On one
evening she was at home with her children, sitting round the
log fire, with a large pot of soap boiling over the fire. Nancy
was busy stirring the soap a-nd entertaining her family with the
latest, news of the war. The houses in those days were all built
of logs, as well as the chimneys. While they were thus em-
ployed, one of the family discovered some one from the outside
peeping through the crevices of the chimney, and gave a silent
intimation of it to Nancy. She rattled away with more and
more spirit, now giving exaggerated accounts of the discomfiture
of the Tories, and again stirring the boiling soap, and watching
the place indicated for a reappearance of the spy. Suddenly,
with the quickness of lightning, she dashed the ladle of boiling-
soap through the crevice full in the face of the eavesdropper,
who, taken by surprise and blinded by the hot soap, screamed
and roared at a tremendous rate, whilst the indomitable Nancy
went out, amused herself at his expense and, with gibes and
taunts, bound him fast as her prisoner."
"Her eldest daughter, Sally, married a man by the name of
Thompson, who partook largely of the qualities of Mrs. Hart.
Sally and her husband followed Mrs. Hart to Georgia several
years after her removal to that State. Upon their journey a
most unfortunate affair occurred. In passing through Burke
county they camped for the night on the roadside. Next
morning a white man who was employed as a wagoner, on
being ordered by Thompson in a peremptory manner to do some
particular thing, returned rather an insolent answer and re-
NANCY HART 117
fused. Thompson, enraged, seized a sword, and with a single
blow severed his head from his body. He then with apparent
unconcern mounted the team and drove on himself until he
came to the first house, where he stopped and told the inmates
he had 'just cut a fellow's head off at the camp, and they had
best go down and bury him.' He then drove on, but was pur-
sued and taken back to Waynesborough and confined in jail.
This brought the heroic ISTancy to the up-country again. She
went to Waynesborough several times, and in a few days after
her appearance thereabouts, Thompson's prison was one morn-
ing found open, and he gone! Mrs. Hart, speaking of the
occurrence, said rather exultingiy, 'That's the way with them
all. Drat 'em, when they get into trouble, they always send
for me !' "
When the clouds of war gathered, and burst with a terrible
explosion in this State, ISTancy's spirit rose with the tempest.
She declared and proved herself a friend to her country, ready
"to do or die." All accused of Whiggism had to hide or swing.
The lily-livered Mr. Hart was not the last to seek safety in the
cane-brake with his neighbors. They kept up a prowling,
skulking kind of life, occasionally sallying forth in a sort of
predatory style. The Tories at length, however, gave Mrs. Hart
a call, and in true soldier manner ordered a repast. JSTancy
soon had the necessary materials for a good feast spread before
them. The smoking venison, the hasty hoe-cake, and the fresh
honeycomb were sufficient to have provoked the appetite of a
gorged epicure ! They simultaneously stacked their arms and
seated themselves, when, quick as thought, the dauntless Nancy
seized one of the guns, cocked it, and with a blazing oath de-
clared she would blow out the brains of the first mortal that
offered to rise or taste a mouthful ! They all knew her charac-
ter too well to imagine that she would say one thing and do
another. "Go," said she to one of her sons, "and tell the Whigs
that I have taken six base Tories." They sat still, each ex-
pecting to be offered up, with doggedly mean countenances,
bearing the marks of disappointed revenge, shame and unap-
118 MEN OF MARK
peascd hunger. Whether the incongruity between fancy's eyes
caused each to imagine himself her immediate object, or whether
IKT commanding attitude, stern and ferocious fixture of coun-
tenance, overawed them, or the powerful idea of their non-
soldierlike conduct unnerved them, or the certainty of death, it
is not easy to determine. They were soon relieved, and dealt
with according to the rules of the times. This is probably a
variation of the previous story wherein she killed one, wounded
one, and captured three others.
The following anecdotes were told by Mrs. Wyche, of Elbert
county, who was on terms of intimacy with Mrs. Hart: "On
one occasion, when information as to what was transpiring on
the Carolina side of the river was anxiously desired by the
troops on the Georgia side, no one could be induced to cross
the river to obtain it. Nancy promptly offered to discharge
the perilous duty. Alone, the dauntless heroine made her way
to the Savannah river, but finding no mode of transport across,
she procured a few logs, and tying them together with a grape-
vine, constructed a raft, upon which she crossed, obtained the
desired intelligence, returned and communicated it to the Georgia
troops.
"On another occasion, having met a Tory on the road, and
entering into conversation with him, so as to divert his attention,
she seized his gun, and declared that unless he immediately took
up the line of march for a fort not far distant she would shoot
him. The dastard was so intimidated that he actually walked
before the brave woman, who delivered him to the commander of
the American fort."
Xaiicy, with several other women and a number of small chil-
dren, were once left in a fort, the men having gone some dis-
tance, probably for provisions, when the fort was attacked by a
party of Tories and savages. At this critical period, when fear
had seized the women and children to such an extent as to pro-
duce an exhibition of indescribable confusion, Mrs. Hart called
into action all the energies of her nature. In the fort there was
one cannon, and our heroine, after endeavoring in vain to place it
NANCY HART 119
in a position so that its fire could reach the enemy, looked about
for aid, and discovered a young man hid under a cow-hide. She
immediately drew him from his retreat, and threatened him with
immediate death unless he instantly assisted her with the cannon.
The young man, who well knew that Nancy would carry her
threats into execution unless he obeyed, gave her his assistance
and she fired the cannon, which so frightened the enemy that
they took to their heels.
Once more, when Augusta was in possession of the British, the
American troops in Wilkes, then under the command of Colonel
Elijah Clarke, were very anxious to know something of the in-
tentions of the British. Nancy assumed the garments of a man,
pushed on to Augusta, went boldly into the British camp, pre-
tending to be crazy, and by this means was enabled to obtain
much useful information, which she hastened to lay before the
commander, Colonel Clarke.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHEE.
GEXEEAL THOMAS GLASCOCK, the second, was born
at Augusta, Ga., October 21, 1790, and died at Decatur,
Ga., May 19, 1841. His father was General Thomas
Glascock, the first, who was a gallant officer of the Eevolutionary
War, rising during that struggle from lieutenant to brigadier-
general. His grandfather was William Glascock, who with his
son Thomas came to Georgia prior to the War of the Eevolu-
tion. William Glascock was an able lawyer and a member of
the first Legislature, rising to be Speaker of the House of Eepre-
sentatives, and served his country well during the Eevolution-
ary period. Thomas, the second, had the benefit of the best edu-
cation procurable at that time, became a lawyer and a success-
ful practitioner. In the the War of 1812 he served as captain of
volunteers. In the Seminole troubles of 1817 he served under
General Andrew Jackson, with the rank of brigadier-general,
being then a young man of twenty-seven. He then returned to
his practice and in 1835 was elected to the Twenty-fourth Con-
gress, and in 1837 was renominated and elected to the Twenty-
fifth Congress, as a candidate of both political parties, on ac-
count of the distinguished service he had rendered in the previ-
ous Congress.
He then retired from public life and removed to Decatur,
DeKalb county, Ga., intending to spend the remainder of his
days in the practice of his profession, when he met with a sud-
den death by being thrown from, his horse. A beautiful and de-
served tribute was paid General Glascock by Judge A. B. Long-
street, the eminent lawyer and wit, author of the inimitable
"Georgia Scenes," who afterwards became a minister of the
Methodist Church: "As an advocate he was eminently success-
ful, as a speaker he was highly popular, as a husband and
father he was deeply beloved for his unchanging kindness and
I
I
BENJAMIN HAWKINS 123
service, both before and after that battle. In 1780, while serv-
ing as an aide-de-camp to Governor jSTash, of North Carolina,
he was appointed by the Legislature as a commercial agent to
procure all things needed for the use and support of the war
and defense of the State. He repaired to the island St. Eus-
tatia, in the West Indies, and there made large purchases, which
were shipped on board vessels of John Wright Stanley, a lead-
ing merchant of New Bern. These vessels and cargoes were cap-
tured by the British vessels of war and ruined the unfortunate
Stanley. He sought redress at the hands of the State, which
was refused, when it should have been allowed him. He then
brought suit against Hawkins as an individual, but was de-
feated in the courts. rt<\ v
On May 13, 1872, Colonel Hawkins was elected by the Gen-
eral Assembly a member of the Congress of the old confedera-
tion for one year, was reelected on May 14, 1783, for a like
term, and was present in Annapolis that year when General
Washington laid down his commission as Commander in Chief.
March 21, 1785, being still a member of Congress, he was nomi-
nated by the North Carolina delegation and was appointed com-
missioner, together with Daniel Carroll and William Terry to
make treaties with the Cherokees and other southern Indians.
He was also appointed in the same year commissioner with
General Andrew Pickens, Joseph Martin and Lachlan Mclntosh
to negotiate with the Creek Indians. They concluded two treat-
ies of Galphinton and Hopewell with the Indians. He was re-
elected to Congress in 1786. In 1789, together with Samuel
Johnston, he was elected to the United States Senate, under the
newly adopted Federal Constitution, being the first two sena-
tors from the State. He took his seat January 13, 1790, and
in the classification was allotted to serve six years. About 1795
General Washington, who was thoroughly well acquainted with
Colonel Hawkins, approached him to accept the Indian Agency
for all the Indians south of the Ohio. He did not desire the
appointment. Possessed of independent fortune, surrounded
by all the comforts of life, exceedingly popular with all the
124 MEN OF MAEK
people of his State, a bright public career ahead of him, his
parents and relations devoted to him, thus to bury himself in
the wilderness was clearly a very great hardship. After strong
solicitation from the President, and carefully going over the
ground with him, Colonel Hawkins decided that it was his duty
to accept the appointment, and the remainder of his life was
spent in that most difficult and trying position. He was a man
of much industry, but the fire which destroyed his house shortly
after his death, unfortunately, burned many valuable manu-
scripts, but a great mass which had accumulated in prior years
was saved and from these some estimate may be formed of
Colonel Hawkins's labors and services. The archives at Wash-
ington show that he tendered his resignation to every President
from General Washington to the time of his death, but not one
of them would accept it, on the ground that his services were
indispensable. These testimonials from the presidents caused
him to continue to carry the burden, knowing that there was at
least some appreciation at the capitol of his arduous labors.
The story is told of Jefferson that certain persons, knowing that
Colonel Hawkins would like to be relieved, got strong testimo-
nials in favor of another person to be his successor and pre-
sented them to Jefferson. The President replied that he saw
no difficulty in getting a successor, but the difficulty was to in-
diu.e Colonel Hawkins to hold on, and so long as that could be
done there would be no successor.
In the year 1801 he was reappointed, with General Wilkerson
and General Andrew Pickens, to negotiate treaties with the
Chickasaws, Choctaws and Natchez. His health, long impaired
from exposure, finally led him in 1815, at the close of the war,
to call to his assistance his nephew, Captain Philemon Hawkins,
who resigned his commission as captain of artillery to join
Colonel Hawkins as assistant agent, but his health, which had
become impaired in military service, was but little better than
his uncle's, and he only survived him a few months.
As an illustration of the veneration and affection felt for
Colonel Hawkins by the Indians amongst whom he lived, sev-
BENJAMIN HAWKINS 125
eral of them adopted his name, and it was quite curious to see
the stalwart warriors signing their cross-mark to "William Haw-
kins," "John Hawkins," and "Benjamin Hawkins."
Possessing absolute indifference to wealth, yet such was his
business ability that it seemed to be no effort whatever to him
to accumulate property and money. Before leaving North
Carolina, he had given away an immense tract of land to one
of his brothers, though the brother insisted that he retain it. He
had a married niece who was in moderate circumstances. He
moved the family to his large Roanoke estate, put them in pos-
session of everything free of use until he might call for it.
They occupied the property for many years until Colonel Haw-
kins concluded to remove his negroes to his residence in the
Creek nation, where he established a model farm. He owned
mechanics of various kinds ; built mills, houses, wagons, fixtures
and implements, raised great crops of grain which were much
needed by the immigrants pouring into the country, and the
Indians. He had a large stock of cattle which the Indians
scrupulously protected during his life. He had at one time up-
wards of five hundred calves. The milk was taken from the
cow and butter made by a machine operated by horse-power.
]STot only of inventive character, he had practical common sense
necessary to carry out his ideas. In addition to this he was
possessed of great industry and energy. The Indians under his
control advanced rapidly in all the elements of civilization. As
a sample of his disinterestedness, his brother-in-law, Micajah
Thomas, a very wealthy man, then a widower, being on his death
bed, sent for Colonel Hawkins and told him that he wanted him
to write his will and wanted to leave him all his property. Colonel
Hawkins positively refused and finally compelled Mr. Thomas
to make a will and leave his property to his blood relations. Of
an agreeable temper, he was a favorite with everybody, and a
particular friend with General Nathaniel Greene, the "Libera-
tor of the South." When the War of 1812 came on the Creek
Indians were drawn into that conflict through the machinations
of British agents greatly to the grief of Colonel Hawkins who
126 MEN OF MARK
had served them so well and so faithfully for nearly twenty
years, but that great body of the Indians representing the south-
ern half of the tribe who were closer to him and more under his
influence kept the peace, and the southern half of Georgia was,
therefore, free from the desolating warfare of the frontier. Not
only was this the case, but the Indians were so friendly that a
regiment was raised, of which Colonel Hawkins was the colonel,
and the celebrated half breed Mclntosh was lieutenant-colonel.
This regiment was in the service for a considerable time, was
largely supported by Colonel Hawkins out of his private funds,
and after his death, his estate lost most of the money thus
spent, owing to the burning of his house and the destruction of
vouchers.
As an instance of his accomplishments, when the celebrated
General Moreau, then an exile, on his way to New Orleans
passed the agency, he became the guest of Colonel Hawkins.
He became so impressed with him and captivated by him, to-
gether with his beautifully spoken French, that he sojourned
with him a long time, and after leaving him pronounced him the
most remarkable man that he had met in America.
He prepared a treatise upon the subject of Indian language
which was sent to Jefferson and by him to Gallatin, and was
held by them in the highest estimation. His writings, called
"A Sketch of the Creek Country," and referring to the topog-
raphy of what now comprises a large part of Georgia and Ala-
bama attracted particular attention and admiration. Jefferson
from a very early period held Colonel Hawkins in very high
esteem. In 1789 Jefferson's journal under the head of "North
Carolina," speaking upon the subject of an appointment of Fed-
eral judge for the State has this notation: "Hawkins recom-
mended John Sitgreaves as a very clever gentleman, of good de-
portment, well skilled in the law for a man of his age, and
should he live long enough will be an ornament to his profes-
sion. He was appointed, Spaight and Blount concurring."
Comparatively late in life Colonel Hawkins married and left
one son and five daughters. Three of these children died early,
BENJAMIN HAWKINS 127
but three of the daughters were living thirty years after their
father's death. At his home in the Creek Agency, where he
lived for over twenty years, he kept unbounded hospitality, not-
withstanding which so successful were his manufacturing enter-
prises and his fanning that at the time of his death his estate
was valued at $160,000. It is believed that his death was has-
tened by the harsh treatment of the Creeks at the close of the
War of 1812, which hurt those who had kept faith with the gov-
ernment just as much as it did the hostiles. Our history shows
no finer character than this sterling patriot who buried himself
in the wilderness for twenty years, leaving everything that men
count desirable, in order to serve his country.
A. B. CALDWELL.
Jones.
MAJOR JOHN" JONES, a prominent and gallant soldier
in our Revolutionary struggle, was a native of Charles-
ton, S. C., where he was bom about 1749. He moved
from that city to St. John's parish, now known as Liberty
county, Ga., some years prior to the Revolution, and in 1774,
then a married man residing with his family in the town of
Sunbury, carrying on a mercantile business as an importer, he
also conducted a plantation which he called "Rice Hope." He
instantly declared for the patriot side when the struggle opened
and was attached to the corps of cavalry raised in the parish
under command of Colonel Baker. The first service was in op-
posing General Prevost's march to Savannah, and when through
an error, being alone, he ran into a British column several hun-
dred strong, he would not retreat until he had exchanged shots
with them. A difficulty arose between him and Colonel Baker
and they were about to fight a duel with broad swords, when
General Screven coming upon the ground appealed to them to
waive their personal difficulties from a sense of patriotism. The
appeal was heeded, and the1 two men continued to cooperate to-
gether. AVhen the British occupied Sunbury, his dwelling,
store and warehouse were destroyed, his plantation ravaged, and
his slaves taken away. He then removed his family to Jackson-
borough, in South Carolina, and was appointed on the staff of
General Lachlan Mclntosh with the rank of major, with whom
he served until his death. He followed Mclntosh in the north-
ern campaigns, but returned when the movement against Sa-
vannah was undertaken in 1779. There are on record several
letters of his to his wife, showing his high spirit, his affection-
ate disposition, his cheerfulness under difficulties and the great
necessities of the Continental troops. The last of these letters
was written from the camp around Savannah on the seventh of
JOHN JONES 129
October, 1779. They give a very interesting account of the
conditions then existing and to some extent of the military ope-
rations. Count D'Estaing and General Lincoln determined to
make the assault on the ninth of October. Major Jones was in
the forlorn hope which led the attack on the Spring Hill bat-
tery. The French and American standards were for a time
planted on the parapet, and here at the most desperate point of
the struggle Major Jones was struck by a cannon shot in the
breast and instantly killed. The attack was repulsed and the
dead were hastily buried. An intimate friend passing by one
of the pits, discovered an exposed hand, which he recognized as
that of Major Jones, and had his body disinterred and decently
buried. He was but a few months past thirty years of age at
the time of his death, much lamented by all who knew him as a
capable as well as brave soldier, and a faithful patriot.
Major Jones's descendants have been prominent in Georgia in
every generation. Capt. Joseph Jones was his son. Rev. Drs.
Chas. C. and John Jones, eminent ministers, were his grand-
sons. Col. Chas. C. Jones, Jr., LL.D., lawyer, soldier, and his-
torian, was a great-grandson, and Charles Edgeworth Jones, son
of Col. C. C. Jones, Jr., is a prominent citizen of Augusta, and
a capable literary man. In 1839 a new street opened in Sa-
vannah was named Jones, in honor of Major Jones, who met his
death battling for his country within 100 yards of where the
new street was located.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHES.
f oim Jfltllen.
JOH]^ MILLED was born in Savannah about 1804, and
died October 15, 1843, some ten days after his election to a
seat in the Twenty-eighth Congress, then only thirty-nine
years old. He was of German descent, and on one occasion an-
nounced that he was a "piece of an Irishman himself," meaning
by that that he had Irish blood in the family, as well as Ger-
man. He became a lawyer and speedily gained not only practice
but influence. Judge Clark, who was a contemporary, though
much younger, stated that his speeches were brief, without su-
perfluous thought or word and went right to the point, that he
cared little how he began or concluded an argument, but at once
plunged into the middle of a subject, and when he was through
stopped; that his candor and directness gave him much influ-
ence with juries. He cites a case where two negroes, a man and
a woman, were on trial for the murder of the master of the
woman, and though he could not save the woman on account of
her confession and the evidence, he did succeed in saving the
man by strong effort, which was considered a remarkable feat
for any lawyer under the circumstances. Judge Clark further
testifies that while Mr. Milieu enjoyed the defense of a criminal
case, that political speeches in times of high public excitement
were actual luxuries to him. He was a Jeffersonian and Jack-
sonian Democrat, was often nominated by his party for the
legislature and sometimes elected. He was fast rising to promi-
nence when his untimely death occurred. He never married,
but was an uncle of Colonel John M. Millen, a distinguished
Savannah lawyer of a later period, who fell in battle, fighting
for the Confederacy.
The flourishing town of Millen, the county seat of Jenkins
county, was named in honor of John Millen.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
Cratotorb
TO THE discoverer of anesthesia the human race must for-
ever stand indebted. Through the magic of that great
discovery the sum of human pain has been vastly lessened,
the horrors of war have been mitigated, the advance of surgery
has been made possible, the average duration of human life has
been lengthened, and every department of human activity has
been given additional energy through which magnificent achieve-
ments have come to bless the world.
Despite all claims to the contrary, the honor of having made
this transcendent discovery belongs to Crawford W. Long, of
Georgia, ua modest, retiring man, who abhorred public strife
and controversy," who wished no pecuniary reward from the
American Congress and who, without fear as to the results, sub-
mitted his claim to the judgment of an unbiased posterity.
The passing years, in which much investigation has been made
by scholarly men, have brought forth abundant evidence on
this subject, and the State of Georgia, backed by the endorse-
ment of the highest authority, has set her official seal upon the
achievement of her distinguished son by legislative resolution
that his statue shall be placed in statuary hall in the nation's
capitol as one of Georgia's two greatest citizens. ISTor is Geor-
gia alone in asserting the justice of his claim, for across the seas
the French have erected a statue to his memory in the capital
city of that republic.
Crawford W. Long, son of James and Elizabeth Ware Long
and grandson of Samuel and Ellen Williamson Long, was born
in Danielsville, Ga., November 1, 1815. Samuel Long was an
Irish immigrant who years before the War of the Revolution
had settled at Carlisle, Pa. He espoused with patriotic vigor
and enthusiasm the cause of the colonies and at the siege of
Yorktown was a captain in the army of LaFayette. A few
years after the close of that war he came to Georgia, along with
other Pennsylvanians.
James Long, father of Crawford W. Long, was a man of
132 MEN OF MARK
splendid education, high character and marked executive ability,
ranking high among the people of his community and State.
For twenty years he was postmaster of the town in which he
lived, was clerk of the Superior Court of Madison county for a
number of terms and served in both branches of the General
Assembly of the State. His wife was a woman of superior
attainments and to her son bequeathed many golden qualities of
mind and heart that became conspicuous in after years in the
quiet, unostentatious, gentle, patient, faithful physician, who
by virtue of his great discovery linked his name to immortality.
After a few years of preparation in the local academy, Craw-
ford W. Long entered Franklin College, now the University of
Georgia, and became one of its best students, receiving his
diploma from that institution in 1835. During his college days
he was a roommate of Alexander H. Stephens, whose statue
Georgia is to place alongside that of the discoverer of anesthe-
sia in the capitol at Washington. Inseparable and beloved com-
panions in college, their walks in life were widely divergent, but
greatness of mind and heart achieved for each a name that will
not die, and long after their bodies have blended with the dust
of their native valleys they will live side by side in enduring
marble, as well as in the hearts of a grateful people.
From early boyhood he gave evidence of marked ability,
which was amply demonstrated when, at the age of nineteen, he
won his Master of Arts degree, ranking second in his class.
When he chose the profession of medicine as his life-work those
who knew him best predicted unbounded success, though they
dreamed not of the exalted fame that awaited him. In 1839
he was graduated from the medical department of the University
of Pennsylvania. The succeeding twelve months he spent in a
hospital in ]Sfew York and on account of his success as a surgeon
was urged by his friends to apply for the position of surgeon
in the United States Navy. This was, however, contrary to the
wishes of his father and he returned to his native State, locating
in Jefferson, Jackson county, Georgia, in 1841. At that time
Jefferson was a mere village, far removed from the large cities
and the railroads.
CRAWFORD W. LONG 133
The young country doctor quickly became a general favorite
on account of his quiet, dignified bearing, his uniform courtesy,
his tender heart and his desire at all times to be of service to his
people in their hours of trouble or suffering.
In those days nitrous oxide parties were all the rage. The
inhalation of that gas resulted in great exhilaration and young
people at their social gatherings would often beg Dr. Long to
administer this gas and thus add to the joys of the occasion. Dr.
Long did not boast a great laboratory. In fact it was practi-
cally impossible, with his meager equipment, to prepare nitrous
oxide. He, therefore, used sulphuric ether and the same hilari-
ous effect followed its use. "Ether parties" speedily became the
fad among the young people of Jefferson and the surrounding
country.
During January, 1842, quite a number of "ether frolics"
were held at Dr. Long's office and some of the young men became
thoroughly intoxicated through the use of the gas. In the rough
playing that followed severe bruises were received upon their
bodies, but they seemed to take no notice of them. The thought
dawned upon the mind of Dr. Long that ether must possess the
power to deaden pain. The vision of all that was embraced in
that thought must have swept across the mind of the young-
physician, for he determined to follow it up later on and give
it a more thorough test.
One night during an ether frolic one of the young men slipped
and fell, dislocating his ankle. Although the injury was quite
painful, Dr. Long observed that the young man was practi-
cally unconscious of pain. His belief in the power of ether to
render one insensible to pain now deepened into a settled con-
viction and he resolved to prove his discovery by using ether in
the first surgical case he might have.
Two miles from Jefferson lived James ]\I. Venable, a young
man who had frequently been in Dr. Long's office and who had
several times spoken to the physician about cutting two tumors
from, the back of his neck. Convinced of the anesthetic powers
of sulphuric ether and that the thorough inhalation of the fumes
134 MEN OF MARK
would produce complete insensibility to pain, Dr. Long dis*
closed to \7enable his plans for the operation. On March 30,
1842, sulphuric ether was administered to Venable until he be-
came completely anesthetized. The small, cystic tumor was
then excised from the back of his neck and the patient was
amazed when he regained consciousness and found that the
operation was over, the tumor removed, and he had experienced
not the slightest pain, in fact had not known the operation was
being performed. That this date marked the discovery of anes-
thesia is beyond question.
Dr. Horace Wells, ignorant of Dr. Long's discovery, tried
laughing gas on himself in 1844. Dr. William T. G. Morton
announced his discovery in 1846. Dr. Charles T. Jackson ac-
cidentally inhaled chlorine gas in 1842 and used ether as an
antidote, thus producing partial anesthetization, but he did not
pursue the subject further at that time.
Although Jefferson was a small village and Dr. Long a young
physician, he operated on at least eight cases, each being thor-
oughly successful and the effect of the anesthetic being com-
plete, before Morton claimed to have discovered anesthesia. It
is claimed that Dr. Long kept his discovery secret and therefore
deserved no credit for it. The affidavits of Dr. Ange DeLaper-
riere and Dr. Joseph B. Carlton show that Dr. Long informed
them and other physicians of his discovery and that they used
ether successfully in their surgical practice before the date of
Dr. Morton's "discovery." It is beyond question that Dr. Long
at once announced his discovery to the physicians of the com-
munity in which he lived, and that he was regarded by them
as having made a discovery of importance, so important in fact
that they used ether with success in their own practice.
In 1849 Morton asked Congress to reward him for his dis-
covery. Jackson at once opposed him and the friends of Wells,
who Avas then dead, also protested against his claim. Long re-
fused to enter into this contest until 1854, at which time he was
persuaded by his friends to assert vigorously his claims to the
honor of having made the discovery. He wrote all the facts to
CRAWFORD W. LONG 135
United States Senator William C. Dawson, who brought Dr.
Long's claims to the attention of Congress, creating consterna-
tion among the rival claimants. Much wrangling followed in
Congress and the merits of the rival claims were never
passed on.
The dates of the first use of anesthetics by Wells and Jackson
are far removed from the date upon which Long made his great
discovery. The date of Jackson's claim more nearly approaches
that of Long's claim, but Jackson before his death wrote to
Senator Dawson, acknowledging the justice of Long's claim.
Congress having failed to settle the disputed question of pri-
ority in the discovery of anesthesia, Dr. Long failed to receive
the credit due him until May, 1877, when Dr. J. Marion Sims
investigated his claims fully and presented them in an able paper
published in the Virginia Medical Monthly. To the demand
by Dr. Sims upon the medical profession that the claims of Dr.
Long be recognized there was a general response which brought
much cheer to the heart of the distinguished discoverer. Emi-
nent physicians the world over hastened to give him full credit
for the great boon he had conferred upon humanity, and since
that time his claims to distinction as the discoverer of anesthesia
have not been seriously questioned.
For ten years after the discovery of the anesthetic powers of
sulphuric ether, Dr. Long continued the practice of his profes-
sion in Jefferson. He then moved to Athens, in which city he
became a most distinguished physician, and where he lived until
his death twenty-six years later.
In 1842 Dr. Long was married to Miss Caroline Swain, a
niece of Governor Swain of North Carolina, a handsome, cul-
tured and attractive woman, who blessed his home and bright-
ened his life. Mrs. Long survived her husband a number of
years. The children of Dr. Long now living are Mrs. Frances
Long Taylor, of Athens, Ga. ; Mr. Edward Crawford Long, of
San Antonio, Texas ; Mrs. Florence Long Bartow, of Elberton,
Ga. ; Mrs. Eugenia Long Harper, of Elberton ; Miss Emma
Long, of Athens. His son, Dr. Arthur B. Long, died a few
years since.
136 MEN OF MARK
Prior to the War between the States, Dr. Long had, by in-
heritance and through his professional work, amassed a neat
fortune. In common with his friends and neighbors, he suffered
severe losses during that period of strife, and although he was
successful in his practice up to the day of his death, he never
succeeded in rebuilding the fortune thus swept away.
Dr. Long took an active interest in the county and State
medical societies and served as president and vice-president of
the Clarke County Society. He was the author of a number
of papers in line with his work as a physician, mainly dealing
with the discovery and application of the anesthetic power of
ether.
He was a splendid type of the Southern gentleman of ante-
bellum days, the soul of honor and gentle courtesy. ]Slo other
ambition dominated his life than that which led him into the
service of the suffering. He was more interested in the recovery
of his patients after the performance of operations under ether-
ization than he was in reaching for the personal fame that
attached to his transcendent discovery. At the bedside of the
rich and the poor his gentle ministrations soothed and com-
forted ; through the blinding storm and at the most unseason-
able hours he went without complaining to those who needed
him ; and to the last moment of his stay on earth his life was
typical of the discovery with which his name will be forever
associated, a life of blessing to those with whom he came in
contact.
He often remarked that his one great wish was that he might
die in harness, and that wish was gratified. On June 16, 1878,
he was called to the bedside of a patient in whose case he was
deeply interested. While performing the duties incident to the
case, he suffered a stroke of apoplexy, from which death came
in a few hours. The brain that had given to the world the bless-
ings of anesthesia was at rest, but it left behind a gift to human-
ity the importance of which can never be estimated.
THOMAS W. EEED.
gnbreto Jackson filler.
OTDREW JACKSOX MILLER, of Augusta, was a dis-
tinguished contemporary of Wilde, Crawford, Jenkins,
Starns, and other prominent men of his era. He was
born in Camden county, Ga., near St. Marys, on March 21,
1806, son of Thomas Harvey and Mary S. Miller.
After obtaining such education as the schools in that section
afforded, at the age of sixteen, he was sent to the West Point
Military Academy to complete his education. His tastes did
not run in that direction, and after one term, he returned home.
He then commenced the study of law at St. Marys, under Archi-
bald Clarke, with whom he remained for one year, and then
went to Augusta, where he pursued his studies in the office of
his uncle, William Jackson.
Upon applying for examination for admission to the bar,
being then under age, the legislature passed a special act author-
izing him to practice after the usual examination, and at the
May term, 1825, of the Superior Court of Eichmond county,
he was admitted to the bar by Judge Robert R. Reed, after
careful examination. He was a man of methodical business
habits, and admitted ability. He soon gained an extensive prac-
tice in the courts of his circuit. Laborious in the preparation
of his cases, he always had the facts and law well arranged for
effective use, and his success was immediate.
On October 9, 1828, he married Miss Martha B. Olive, of
Columbia county. Of that marriage there were several chil-
dren born, two of his sons becoming lawyers.
In 1836 he was sent to the lower house of the General Assem-
bly by the people of Richmond county, and in the next year was
returned to the Senate, of which he continued as a member until
his death twenty years later. He was twice elected president of
the Senate. On those occasions when the opposite party was in
the majority, and he was passed over in the choice of presiding
138 MEN OF MARK
officer, his accurate knowledge nf parliamentary law made him
the standard of authority on all difficult points of order.
He was regarded as the safest, coolest and most practical mind
in the Senate. After long service, he fell into ill health, and in
1854 published a card to the people of Eichmond county, ask-
ing that he be permitted to retire from legislative service. He
was prevailed upon to serve another term. While in the Senate
he returned home to attend a session of the court, was taken ill,
and died on February 3, 1856, not quite fifty years of age.
The proceedings of the various courts with which he was con-
nected at the time of his death best illustrate his standing. His
fellow-senators had agreed during his life that he was the best
informed, wisest, and greatest man in the State Senate. Truth-
ful and frank in every relation of life, occupied with the labors
of a large practice, he yet found time for attention to social
duties, moral obligations, public and private charities, and offices
of friendship. He was a communicant of the Presbyterian
church for many years, and a man of the most practical Chris-
tianity. At the time of his death, in addition to holding the
position of State senator, he was president of the Medical Col-
lege of Georgia, city attorney of Augusta, director of the Geor-
gia Railroad and Banking Company, director of the Union
Bank, president of the Oglethorpe Infantry Loan Association,
and Captain of the Oglethorpe Infantry. In 1853 he was ap-
pointed by the Governor judge of the Superior Court of the
Middle circuit, which he accepted merely until an election could
be had. He did not seek nor desire the office.
He rendered valuable services in the projection and construc-
tion of the Western and Atlantic or State road. During his
entire legislative life, he labored ceaselessly in favor of the pas-
sage of a law reserving to a married woman the title of her
property. Old legal customs do not readily yield, and Mr. Miller
passed away without seeing his favorite measure concreted into
law, but in 18 G6 it became a law, and is now imbedded in the
State Constitution.
Among the many eulogies pronounced at the time of his
ANDREW JACKSON MILLER 139
death, Mr. Thornton, a representative from Muscogee, said, "He
was sir, the friend of women, and I am glad that they, by their
presence today, sanction the last act of respect paid to his name.
He was the first who raised his arm and voice to the battle of
their rights. For eighteen years he fought the battle of the
widow and her daughters, and he never would have suspended
his efforts until he had carried his bill for the protection of
their property. They should build him a monument to com-
memorate his exertions in their behalf. He was their friend
and advocate." The Legislature sent a special committee to
attend his funeral, ordered a monument erected over him at the
expense of the State, and created a new county, which, in his
honor, was named Miller.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
JOHN MACPHERSON BERRIEN was born August 23,
1781, near Princeton, New Jersey, at the home of his
paternal grandfather, John Berrien.
John Berrien was one of the Justices of the Colonial Su-
preme Court. It was in his house that General Washington had
his military headquarters when he wrote his farewell address to
the army.
The father of the subject of this sketch was Major John Ber-
rien, whose gallantry as field and staff officer in the Continental
service was a tribute to his Huguenot progenitors.
His mother, Margaret MacPherson, was of Scotch lineage,
and a daughter of Captain John MacPherson, who commanded
"The Britannia" in the Provincial Navy. Captain MacPherson
was a brave soldier in the wars between England, France and
Spain and was wounded nine times in battle. Margaret Mac-
Pherson's brother, Captain John MacPherson, Jr., was aide de
camp to General Montgomery and shared with him a soldier's
grave before the walls of Quebec, 1775. Another brother, Wil-
liam, Avas a General in the Continental Army and fought under
Generals Wayne and LaFayette. These were MacPherson Ber-
rien's pretensions to patriotic ancestry and to descent from peo-
ple of influence and high repute.
Shortly after Anthony Wayne's victorious reoccupation of
the City of Oglethorpe, the parents of our subject selected Sa-
vannah as their future home. This was in 1782 and for three-
fourths of a century that city was the admiring witness of his
numerous triumphs.
The educational advantages were very limited after the pro-
tracted War of the Revolution. Young Berrien was a precocious
boy and his father determined to give him the best opportuni-
ties the country offered. He was sent to New York where he
pursued a preliminary course of study. He made rapid progress
• ••
*VJ.
JOHN MacPHERSON BERRIEN 143
Henry Clay for the presidency and he was selected as the chair-
man of the committee to inform Mr. Clay of the great honor
tendered him. Between 1840 and 1850 the most notable ques-
tions which engaged the United States Senate were those relat-
ing to Oregon, the Mexican War, the Wilmot Proviso and the
Missouri Compromise- — in all of which debates Senator Berrien
took an active part. Of the compromise measure of 1850 he
was a strong champion.
A distinguished writer speaking of his personality says : "He
had distinctly Roman features, clear-cut, aristocratic outlines.
His lofty and well proportioned form, manly bearing and lumin-
ous eyes, reflecting the greatness of the mind within, combined
to make him an object of special interest at Washington. He
seemed to be the only man that Webster addressed with softened
voice when he turned from his seat to recognize him."
In May, 1852, Senator Berrien again resigned his seat in the
Senate, and retired permanently to private life.
It is not generally known that when the Supreme Court of
Georgia was organized in December 1845 it was the general wish
that the Chief Justiceship of this court should first be bestowed
upon Senator Berrien. When the matter was brought to his at-
tention he promptly declined the great honor. Always alive to
everything that would benefit his city, State or section, and espe-
cially in their intellectual development, he became one of the
charter members of the Georgia Historical Society and over the
deliberations of this distinguished body, he was first called to
O t/ 7
preside. Until the day of his death he took an active interest in
the welfare of this organization.
As President of the State Society of the Cincinnati, his patri-
otic offices were greatly appreciated and his name stands side
by side with that of his gallant father, who filled all the offices
of this distinguished organization.
He was for thirty years a Trustee of Franklin College, and
for his distinguished services, this time honored institution con-
ferred upon him the honorable degree of Doctor of Laws. A
similar compliment had been previously conferred by his alma
mater.
144 MEN OF MARK
In December, 1855, at Milledgeville, Judge Berrien per-
formed his last act of political usefulness. Infirm in health and
having passed his three score years and ten, he displayed that
tireless public spirit which had characterized his whole life,
when, as chairman of the American party convention, he pre-
sided over their deliberations.
A few days after his return home, illness supervened and in
spite of all that loving hands and medical skill could do, he was
called into the presence of his God whom he had worshiped
and honored all of his life. There was lamentation throughout
the entire State ; the city of Savannah was bowed in grief ; the
newspapers gave testimony to the useful services of the distin-
guished dead. The members of the bar attested his powers as a
lawyer and a public spirited man. Eloquent testimonials of re-
spect came from every quarter of the Union, showing that the
demise of this accomplished scholar and statesman was univer-
sally regarded as a national calamity. Shortly afterwards the
Legislature named one of our South Georgia counties in his
honor, emphasizing the popular wish that the memory of the
man who had contributed so much to the glory of the Common-
wealth should be permanently embalmed in the affections of the
people.
As a judge he was wise, painstaking, firm and just; as a
statesman he had thorough knowledge of all public questions and
broad but positive views upon the administration of government ;
as a citizen and a patriot he commanded the respect, the admira-
tion and the honor of all men ; as an orator he had a most grace-
ful manner, chaste and elegant diction and a forcefulness of pre-
sentation that easily moved and captured men.
WILLIAM BERRIEN BURROUGHS, M.D.
Wlltam Mpatt
ILLIAM WYATT BIBB was born in Amelia county,
Va., on October 2, 1781. His father, William Bibb,
was a leading citizen of Prince Edward, Va., and a mem-
ber of the famous convention of 1775, and served on the Commit-
tee of Safety that year. During the Revolution he served in
the army as a captain, and after the war served his county as
sheriff, in 1789. He married in 1779 Sarah Wyatt, of ISTew
Kent county, Ya., a lady of strong character and possessing a
comfortable fortune. The grandfather of William Wyatt Bibb,
was another William Bibb, of Amelia county. He was a son of
Benjamin Bibb, of Hanover county. The family stood high in
Virginia and many descendants yet live in the Old Dominion.
George M. Bibb, of Kentucky, famous in the early days of that
commonwealth, was a member of the same family. It is be-
lieved in some quarters that the name was originally Beebe and
of French origin, but this can not be verified. It is certain that
the Bibbs have been established in Virginia since the early
colonial days. In 1789, Capt. William Bibb moved to Elbert
county, Ga., where he died in 1796. William Wyatt Bibb's
mother was what is known as a managing woman, and she saw to
it that her children did not, lack for educational advantages, and
the lad was placed in an academy presided over by the celebrated
educator, the Rev. Hope Hull. He was prepared in the academy
for admission to William and Mary College, Virginia, where he
remained two years and then repaired to the medical department
of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was graduated in
1801, with the degree of M.D. He began the practice of medi-
cine at the village of Petersburg, in Elbert county. He promptly
gained a considerable practice.
He had, however, a natural affinity for politics, and in 1803,
being then but twenty-two years of age, he was elected to the
10
146 MEN OF MARK
Georgia House of Representatives, and served two terms From
there he was promoted to the Senate, and while serving his first
term in that position he was, in 1807, advanced to the lower
house of Congress to fill a vacancy occasioned by the resignation
of Thomas Spalding and took his seat as a member of the
Ninth Congress, on January 26, 1807. He was reelected to the
Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Congresses, and in 1813, when
William II. Crawford resigned, being succeeded by William B.
Bulloch as a temporary appointee, he was elected by the State
Legislature to fill out the unexpired term of Senator Crawford,
and took his seat in the Senate on December 8, 1813. He served
through the Thirteenth and into the Fourteenth Congress, when
owing to the indignation aroused through the country by the
act increasing the salaries of Congressmen, he resigned in great
mortification of spirit, in 1816. He had been a confidential
friend and adviser of President Madison, and the President ap-
preciating his ability, and sympathizing with him in his feelings,
offered him the appointment of Governor of Alabama territory.
This position Dr. Bibb accepted, and served as the first and only
territorial Governor of Alabama. The State was admitted to
the Union under his administration, and he was elected by the
people the first Governor and inducted into office in November,
1819.
In the summer of 1820, during a violent thunder storm, his
horse threw him and he received injuries from which he died
on the tenth of July, 1820, in the fortieth year of his age. He
was succeeded in the office of Governor by his brother, Thomas
Bibb, who was the second Governor of the State. Governor Bibb
thus belonged both to Georgia and Alabama, and his name has
been commemorated in each State by being given to a county.
He was of medium size, five feet, ten inches in height, spare
built, handsome in feature, and of a mild, conciliatory and be-
nevolent temper. A man of very upright character and fine in-
telligence, thoroughly conversant with public questions, he had
risen with remarkable rapidity, and had his life been spared
WILLIAM WYATT BIBB 147
would undoubtedly have given many years of excellent service
to his adopted State.
When quite a young man he married a daughter of Col. Hoi-
man Freeman, a Revolutionary soldier. Of this marriage four
children were born, of whom two lived to maturity and reared
families, a son, George Bailey Bibb, and a daughter, Mary, who
married Alfred Vernon Scott.
During his term as Governor of Alabama he was offered the
appointment of minister to Russia, but declined on account of
health. Few men in American public life have in the same
space of time held as many high positions as Governor Bibb did,
and none acquitted themselves with more credit to their con-
stituents.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
Cbtoarb .
HO]ST. EDWARD J. BLACK, eminent jurist and states-
man, was born in Beaufort District, S. C., in the year
1806. His father was William Black, a native of that
district, and at one time a gentleman of large fortune, but owing
to reverses occasioned by his having to liquidate another's debt
of great magnitude, and for which he had become security, his
estate was seriously impaired. He then removed to Barnwell
District.
At an early age young Edward, who had given evidences of
unusual talents, was taken to Eichmond county, Ga., under the
care of his uncle, the late Judge Reid, who placed him in the
school of the Rev. Mr. Brantley, of that city. Later finishing
his education at the Richmond Academy, at Augusta, Ga., he
studied law and, when not twenty-one years of age, was admit-
ted to the Bar, subsequently forming a copartnership with Judge
Reid, with whom he practiced for some time. He soon married
Miss Kirkl and, of Barnwell District, a lady of striking beauty
and considerable wealth, and, settling on a plantation in Screven
county, Ga., in 1832, devoted himself to planting, politics, and
the practice of his profession.
The public life of Mr. Black commenced in 1829, when he
served two terms in the Georgia Legislature, having been elected
011 the Whig ticket from Richmond county. After the expira-
tion of his second term, in 1831, he was the candidate of
his party for the office of Attorney-General, coming within three
votes of election. When the ballots were counted the relative
strength of the respective candidates showed — C. J. Jenkins,
108 ; Edward J. Black, 105 ; scattering, 2.
Continuing the practice of his profession, Mr. Black reached
a reward commensurate with his eminent talents, his ability hav-
ing been soon recognized after his admission to practice.
•MHI
E. J. BLACK
&td)arb ^tmp OTtlbe.
IT IS one of the "ironies of fate" that the reputation of dis-
tinguished men is sometimes based not upon the real work of
their life, but upon something which was to them a diversion
or a mere incident. Such has been the case with Richard Henry
Wilde, one of the most distinguished figures of Georgia during
the first half of the nineteenth century. Even the well informed
upon hearing Wilde's name think of him first as a literary man
and poet. As a matter of fact, he was one of the great lawyers
of the day, a statesman who ranked high in the national coun-
cils, a legislator of sound judgment, courage and foresight.
Literature was to him merely a diversion, and while he excelled
in that direction, and was the author of two or three exquisite
little fugitive poems, it probably never occurred to Wilde that
his chief reputation in the future would be as a poet. He was a
native of Ireland, born in Dublin, September 24, 1T89. On
both sides of the family his people were strong Royalists, a
near relative having returned to Ireland on the outbreak of the
Revolutionary War on account of his devotion to the British
crown. Mr. Wilde's father, Richard Wilde, sailed for America
in December, 1796, after loading a vessel owned by a sea cap-
tain, one Richard Lemon. Vessel and cargo were to be sold
and profits and loss to be divided between the captain and the
shipper. They arrived in Baltimore in January, 1797. The
rebellion of 1798 broke out in Ireland. Shortly after their ar-
rival in America, Mr. McCready, a partner of Mr. Wilde in Ire-
land, was convicted of treason and everything belonging to the
two men confiscated. On his arrival at Baltimore, the merchan-
dise he had brought was seized by one Mr. G. Prestman as the
property of Lemon, and a long and tedious litigation followed.
Mr. Wilde had lost everything in Ireland and stood to lose every-
thing in America. He finally won the suit, but died shortly
after, in 1802, and in 1803 his widow moved to Georgia. In
152 MEN OF MARK
1806 she sailed for Ireland in the hope of recovering some small
portion of the large fortune of her husband, in this hope she
was disappointed. She returned to Georgia in July, 1815, to
see her son a few months later elected to Congress.
Richard Henry Wilde was eight years old when his people
came to America. His childhood for several years thereafter
was spent in Baltimore, where he was taught to read by his
mother and received instruction in writing and Latin grammar
from a private tutor. Later he attended an academy. In his
eleventh year, on account of his father's embarrassment, he was
placed in a store. He was a very delicate youth up to the age
of fifteen and sixteen, of quiet, retiring and studious habits. He
inherited his poetical taste and talent from his mother, who
wrote, not for publication, many pieces remarkable for vigor
of thought and beauty of versification. His mother on moving
to Augusta opened a small shop for the support of her family.
Young Wilde assisted her in the keeping of this shop, taught
himself bookkeeping, and became familiar with general litera-
ture in moments of leisure. Her means steadily dwindled, her
business became unprofitable, and he resolved to study law.
Unable to pay the fees, he studied in secret, practicing as a
member of a dramatic club in order to overcome a slight impedi-
ment in his speech, and after a year and a half of intense study,
unknown to his friends, the pale and feeble youth, apparently
consumptive, sought a distant court to be examined. He feared
rejection and did not want his mother to hear of it. Arriving
at court he found that the judges had no jurisdiction. A friend,
however, met him and invited him to go to Greene Superior
Court. Tt was the March term for 1809. Judge Peter Early
was on the bench, later the Governor of Georgia. Judge Early
w:is noted for his strictness, and the youth having left his own
circuit for examination aroused suspicion. He, therefore, ex-
amined him rigorously for three days. Every question was an-
swered, not only to the satisfaction but to the admiration of the
committee. The judge declared that the young man could not
have left his circuit because he was unprepared. His friend
RICHARD HENRY WILDE 153
who had brought him to the court certified to his moral charac-
ter. He was admitted without a dissenting voice, then under
twenty-one years of age. Returning home, he applied himself to
his profession and gave rein to his literary taste. Exceedingly
industrious in the preparation of his cases, he was urbane in
manner, and his logic always sound. He did not indulge as was
usual at that time in personalities, but familiar with all of his
associates, and his memory well equipped with apt quotations,
his opponents soon learned to fear his ridicule, which in his
hands was a most formidable weapon to be used on those who
attacked him. His rise was so rapid that in a few years he was
made Attorney-General of the State, and in 1815 when barely
of legal age was elected a representative to the Fourteenth Con-
gress as a Democrat. At that time the Congressional delega-
tion from Georgia was elected on a combination ticket and not
by districts as at present. In the next election the Democratic
ticket, (with one exception) met with defeat, and Mr. Wilde
returned to his practice. He, however, retained his position of
prominence as one of the leaders of his party in the State, and
when Thomas W. Cobb, a member of the Eighteenth Congress,
was promoted to the Senate, Mr. Wilde was elected to fill out his
unexpired term for a part of the year 1825. His ticket was
again defeated for the Nineteenth Congress. He was again
elected to the Twenty-first, which met in December, 1829, re-
elected to the Twenty-second and Twenty-third, making six years
of continuous service at that time, but defeated for the Twenty-
fourth Congress. During his several terms he took prominent
part in the work of that body. His opposition to a measure at
that time known as the Force Bill and his opposition to the re-
moval of the bank deposits made him unpopular with the Jack-
son wing of the Democratic party, then dominant in Georgia,
which accounts for his defeat in the election for the Twenty-
fourth Congress. His long and arduous public service had im-
paired a constitution never over-strong, and in June, 1835, he
sailed for Europe to recruit his health. He spent two years in
traveling through England, France, Belgium, Switzerland and
154 MEN OF MARK
Italy, and then for three years located in Florence. Here his
entire time was spent in literary pursuits. The love, the mad-
ness and the imprisonment of Tasso had become a subject of con-
troversy, and it is said that "he entered into the investigation
with the enthusiasm of the poet and the patience and accuracy
of a case-hunter." After his return to the United States he pub-
lished this large work. Having finished this, he turned his at-
tention to Dante and made a discovery of an authentic portrait
of that great poet, and engaged in the preparation of a biography
of Dante. In addition to this from time to time he made addi-
tions to his own poetical productions.
Mr. Wilde had married in 1818. His wife had died in 1827,
and of this marriage two sons were reared who survived him.
He has been criticized somewhat for what appears to the
critics as a waste of time for the years spent in Florence on what
seemed to them subjects of no great interest or value. This
criticism does not appear well founded. He had earned a rest.
He had served his State long and faithfully. His people not
agreeing with his views had retired him from the public service
at a time when his health was impaired by his public labors.
A man of fine literary taste, poetic instincts, and artistic tem-
perament, it was but natural for him to seek rest in a place like
Florence and to become interested in the works of the great Ital-
ian poets. Returning from Europe he made his last public ap-
pearance in the Whig Convention at Milledgeville in 1842 as a
delegate from Richmond county. His reputation had become
not only national, but even European. He was, therefore, the
recipient of much attention. The younger members of the con-
vention had never met him or even seen him before. They were
eager to hear the renowned and eloquent orator. Their expecta-
tions were not disappointed. His speech Avas said to have been
one of tender recollection and surpassing beauty. One wrho
heard him said that "he rose to impassioned heights and scattered
gems in every direction." The next year he removed to ISTew
Orleans to resume the practice of his profession. His reputa-
tion being well known he commanded at once a lucrative busi-
RICHARD HENRY WILDE 155
ness. In this connection it is proper here to note the remarkable
scope of Mr. Wilde's information and legal ability. All his life
he had practiced in a .State whose legal system was based on the
common law. In Louisiana the legal system is based upon the
civil, or Roman law, which has always prevailed in that State
and is in the main widely different from the common law. Not-
withstanding this difference, Mr. Wilde at once stepped to the
front among the giants of the Louisiana bar, including such men
as Preston, Prentiss, Slidell, Soule and Benjamin, and was
shortly elected Professor of Constitutional Law in the Univer-
sity of Louisiana. When the yellow fever became epidemic in
New Orleans, in the summer of 1847, Mr. Wilde refused to leave
the State, believing that with proper care he might escape the
disease, or that the eminent professional skill in New Orleans
would be qualified to save him should he take it. In this he was
mistaken. He was attacked, and despite all efforts of the most
skillful physicians he passed away on September 10, 1847, in
the fifty-eighth year of his age. All over the country the press
was full of eulogies, the bar of New Orleans, Augusta and other
places passed resolutions of respect to his memory, the public
mourned him as a poet, an orator, a statesman, and a man of
rare accomplishments.
The best known of his poems is the little fugitive piece enti-
tled "My Life is Like a Summer Rose." These lines were pub-
lished about 1820 and were highly praised by Lord Byron. An
absurd controversy later on raged over them because some foolish
man charged that they were in the nature of a plagiarism from
the Greek poet Alcasus. This was effectually disposed of when
it came up, first in Wilde's lifetime, and later after his death,
and there is no question of the originality of the lines just as
there is no question of their beauty, for the English language
does not contain a more beautiful poetical gem. For those who
may not have seen it, it is here appended as a fitting conclusion
to this very imperfect sketch of one of the finest characters in
our history.
156 MEN OF MARK
My life is like the summer rose
That opens to the morning sky,
And, ere the shades of evening close,
Is scatter'd on the ground to die :
Yet on that rose's humble bed
The softest dews of night are shed,
As though she wept such waste to see;
But none shall drop one tear for me!
My life is like the autumn leaf,
Which trembles in the moon's pale ray :
Its hold is frail, its date is brief,
Restless, — and soon to pass away:
Yet when that leaf shall fall and fade,
The parent tree will mourn its shade,
The wind bemoan the leafless tree;
But none shall breathe a sigh for me.
My life is like the print which feet
Have left on Tampa's desert strand:
Soon as the rising tide shall beat,
Their trace will vanish from the sand :
Yet, as if grieving to efface
All vestige of the human race,
On that lone shore loud moans the sea;
But none shall thus lament for me.
BERNARD SUTTLEE.
Jfttcajaf) UitUtamsion.
[CAJAII WILLIAMSON was one of the strongest pa-
triots furnished by Georgia during the Revolutionary
struggle, a man of dauntless courage and good military
capacity, and ready to sacrifice everything for the cause. He
was born in Bedford county, Va., it is believed about 1735. His
grandfather came from the north of Ireland and settled in Vir-
ginia. He and his son both prospered in the new country, ac-
quiring considerable property, so that Micajah Williamson in-
herited a good estate. Arriving at manhood, he married Susan
Giliam, of Henrico county. She was of Huguenot stock and is
said to have been a niece of the Rev. Devereux Jarratt, a native
Episcopal clergyman of his day in Virginia. In 1768 Colonel
Williamson moved to Georgia and bought from Colonel Alston
a valuable plantation in Wilkes county, for which he gave sixty
negroes. He was at that time rated as one of the wealthy men
of upper Georgia. His home was on the Indian frontier, and
troubles with the Indians were constant. His capacity made him
a leader, and by the time that the Revolutionary War came on,
he was among the foremost men of his section. A strong friend-
ship had sprung up between Colonel Williamson and Colonel
Elijah Clarke and there had been occasional cooperation between
the two men along the frontier. When Clarke became colonel
of a regiment in the Revolutionary armies, Williamson became
his lieutenant-colonel and his chief dependence. He was espe-
cially detailed for all hazardous adventures and was wounded
more frequently than any other officer in the service. When
Clarke wanted to lay siege to Augusta in the spring of 1781,
being disabled by an attack of smallpox, Williamson commanded
until Clarke's recovery, and they were reinforced by Colonel
Pickens and "Light Horse" Harry Lee.
His wife, a woman of remarkable capacity and unbounded
devotion to her husband and the cause of liberty, managed the
158 MEN OF MARK
plantation and supported her large family of sons and daughters
while her husband was away fighting his country's battles. In
the latter part of the war a force of English, Tories and Indians
raided that section, while Colonel Williamson was absent, burned
all of his buildings, and hung up his t \vclvc-year-old son before
the eyes of his mother. The remainder of the family escaped
then to the North Carolina mountains. Colonel Williamson
came out of the war much broken in health and entirely broken
in fortune. His lands were left and a small number of negroes.
For some years he kept an inn in the town of Washington, his
home, while with his few slaves he endeavored to rebuild his
fortunes through the improvement of his lands. In a few years
the financial condition was much improved, but he never fully
recovered his health, shattered by the exposures of the war, and
he died in 1795, twelve years after the close of the Revolution,
about sixty years old.
He was a great friend of education and one of the trustees of
the first school established in Washington after the Revolution-
ary struggle. He left five sons and six daughters. The sons
were Charles, Peter, Mica j ah, William, and Thomas Jefferson
Williamson. His daughter Nancy married Gen. John Clarke,
later Governor of Georgia, a son of Elijah Clarke, and one of the
most forceful men in all Georgia history. Sarah married Judge
Griffin, and after his death married Judge Charles Tait, who
was for ten years a member of the United States Senate from
Georgia. Susan married Dr. Thompson Bird, and her daugh-
ter, Sarah Williamson Bird, married Judge L. Q. C. Lamar, and
became the mother of the great Judge L. Q. C. Lamar. Martha
married a Fitch, Elizabeth a Thweat, both prominent men of
their time in Georgia. Mary married Duncan G. Campbell,
after whom Campbell county was named, and became the mother
of Justice John A. Campbell, of the United States Supreme
Court. Colonel Williamson was, therefore, the grandfather of
one justice of the Supreme Court, John A. Campbell, and the
great grandfather of another justice, L. Q. C. Larnar, through
his daughters. It is said of these daughters that they were all
MICAJAH WILLIAMSON 159
women of remarkable character, both in appearance and in in-
telligence, and that Colonel Williamson's wife, Susan (Gilliam)
Williamson, transmitted her strong qualities to every one of her
female descendants down to the third generation.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
Robert JXapmonb
OXE OF THE most accomplished men in the history of
Georgia was Robert Raymond Reid, lawyer, judge,
mayor, and Congressman in Georgia ; judge, president of
the Constitutional Convention, and Governor in Florida. Handi-
capped all his life by a frail physique, in his fifty-two years of
life he compassed an immense amount of labor. He was born
in Beaufort District, S. C., September 8, 1789. At nine years
of age he was sent to a school at Beaufort. Delicate in appear-
ance and without physical strength, he was tyrannized over by
the older boys, and gained the name of a dull and lazy scholar.
He soon returned home and was then sent to Savannah, with the
same result. At home he showed to better advantage, because
of his intense devotion to his mother. He was then sent to
Augusta, Ga., where he fell into the hands of good teachers, and
was taken under the wing of some kind-hearted boys. While at
school there, his mother died, which was his first great affliction,
and on account of his tender sensibilities for a time seriously
affected his studies. From Augusta he went to Columbia, where
his academic education was completed. He then studied law,
and at his majority entered upon the practice of his profession
at Augusta, Ga.
In 1811 he married Miss Anna Margaretta McLaws, of Au-
gusta, with whom he lived happily for fourteen years. She died
on September 7, 1825, leaving him five children, three daugh-
ters and two sons. On the eighth of May, 1829, he was married
to Miss Elizabeth Napier Dephia Virginia Randolph, of Colum-
bia county. She wras a lady of great beauty and many accom-
plishments, and her early death, on the 22nd of January, 1831,
was a blow from which Judge Reid never fully recovered.
His lack of physical strength had forced him into companion-
ship with books, and he became thus one of the most accom-
plished and best informed men of his day, outside of his profes-
ROBERT RAYMOND REID 161
sion, in which his abilities were recognized as of high order. In
1816, at the early age of twenty-seven, he was judge of the Su-
perior Court, a very high testimonial to this ability and personal
character. In the Fifteenth Congress, which met on December
1, 1817, John Forsyth was a member of the lower house. On
the resignation of George M. Troup from the Senate, Mr. For-
syth was elected to fill the vacancy, and Judge Eeid was elected
to Mr. Forsyth's place in the lower house, as a Democrat. He
was reelected to the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Congress, mak-
ing a period of about five years of Congressional service. While
in Congress, the so-called Missouri Compromise on the slavery
question was under discussion, and on January 8, 1820, he de-
livered a speech which is ample evidence of his study of the
question, his forensic ability, and his statesmanlike forecast. At
the close of his congressional career, he was again elected to the
bench of the Middle circuit, from which he retired in 1825 and
resumed the practice of his profession. In February, 1827,
Judge Reid was appointed to preside over the City Court of Au-
gusta, and in November, 1829, was reelected by the Legislature
to the same office.
It has been mentioned that in January, 1831, he lost his sec-
ond wife in less than two years after marriage. This blow was
such a severe one to him that his friends, fearing for both his
mental and physical health, applied to President Jackson for an
appointment that would remove him from the scene of his trou-
bles, and on May 24, 1832, President Jackson commissioned him
as United States Judge for the District of East Florida. This
position he filled with his usual ability and fidelity, though men
interested in "land grabbing" in Florida made strenuous efforts
to injure him in the public mind. A full investigation made by
grand juries in 1837 completely vindicated Judge Reid from
the charges of his enemies.
On November 6, 1837, he again contracted a marriage; this
time with Miss Mary Martha Smith, daughter of Captain James
Smith, of Camden county, Ga. This union was a happy one and
11
162 MEN OF MARK
of great benefit to Judge Reid during the last years of his life.
Of this marriage two children were born. One died in infancy
and one son, Raymond Jencks, lived to manhood.
The Seminole war was raging during the last years of his
life, and in that connection he delivered a most notable oration
at St. Augustine, July 4, 1838. On December 29, 1839, Presi-
dent Van Buren commissioned Judge Reid Governor of the
Territory of Florida, John Forsyth, an old colleague of Judge
Reid, being then Secretary of State. He took up the work of the
governorship with the same zeal and- fidelity with which he had
always discharged every other duty. On September 14, 1840,
he was elected an honorary member of the Georgia Historical
Society, of which John M. Berrien was then the president ; this
was a compliment most grateful to the feelings of Judge Reid.
When the Constitutional Convention was called in Florida to
provide an organic law under which the territory might be ad-
mitted to the Union as a State, Judge Reid gladly served as
president of that convention.
His later years were saddened by heavy afflictions. His elder
son, a most promising young man, a past midshipman in the
United States Navy, was lost while in command of the "Sea
Gull," off Cape Horn, in the year 1839, and to a man of Judge
Reid's tender sensibilities and affectionate disposition, this was
a great blow. On the 28th of June, 1841, he was seized with a
fever, at Blackwood, his residence, seven miles from Talla-
hassee, and despite the best medical attention he died on July
1st, in the fifty-second year of his age. The local historians of
that date gave Judge Reid the credit of holding together the
Constitutional Convention and the creation of an organic law
which was a credit, both to his patriotism and his mental power.
For the last fifteen years of his life he kept a private journal,
the perusal of which is convincing evidence of the strength of
his mind, the tenderness of his heart, and the spiritual character
of his thought.
BERNARD SUTTLER.
Clarke.
I 1ST THE sketch of Elijah Clarke, found elsewhere in this work,
there is a record of the parentage of John Clarke and his
probable ancestry. He was born in 1766 in Edgecombe
county, North Carolina. When he was a child of eight years
his father came to what is now Wilkes county, Georgia, then
the extreme frontier, and wnokn as the ceded lands. Here in
a log cabin, exposed to all the hardships of the frontier life,
the little boy began his career in a section where he was long to
be one of the most prominent figures.
There was but little interim between Elijah Clarke's settle-
ment in the wilds of Georgia and his entering the army as a
soldier. There were no schools nor teachers in that part of Geor-
gia in those stirring times. So while Elijah Clarke was fight-
ing the Tories, or guarding the refugees in their long journey
across the mountains to the valley of the Watauga, his eldest
son, John, was sent to the old home in North Carolina to be edu-
cated. He was a stalwart youth of fourteen years when General
Greene began his historic campaign against Cornwallis. His
father was in the midst of the conflict, and his mother was with
him; so the brave boy joined the army. When fifteen he was
made a lieutenant, and at sixteen a captain. He was with Wayne
when he entered Savannah and the war was virtually at an end.
His father was the leading man of the ceded lands, and having
risen to the rank of Major-General, received a generous grant of
confiscated property as some return for his devotion to the cause
of liberty. The records show that John Clarke also received
grants of eight hundred acres of land as his reward, although
not yet of age.
He was only twenty-one years old when he was appointed a
major of the militia. When the Creeks made their invasion into
Georgia in 1787 he was with his father in command of the
troops. They pursued and defeated the Indians on a small
KM MEN OF MARK
creek in Walton county. This creek, named Jack's Creek in his
honor, still bears that name.
When he returned victorious from the field he won the heart
and hand of Miss Nancy Williamson, the lovely daughter of
Colonel Mica j ah Williamson, of Washington. Her father was a
prominent man, and her sisters were married to Dr. Thompson
Bird, Col. Duncan G. Campbell and Judge Griffin. Major
Clarke thus became allied with some of the leading families of
the State. While he had enjoyed only meager school advantages,
such was the brightness of his mind, the strength of his will and
the charm of his manners that he soon took the place of a leader
in his section.
As is told in the sketch of Elijah Clarke, the old soldier was
what would have been known in France as a Republican or Jaco-
bin, as he warmly sympathized with that party in France, and
accepted commission from Citizen Genet as a Major-General in
the French Army. Young Major Clarke does not seem to have
gone into the movement or to have sympathized with his father
in his invasion of the Indian lands, nor is he shown as having
had any part in the Yazoo speculation, which involved so many
of the people of upper Georgia. It is a sad fact that so gifted a
man, a man of such commanding power, and one in whose integ-
rity so many of his fellow-citizens had such implicit confidence,
should have fallen early in life a victim to the habit of occasional
drunkenness. Brandy was on all sideboards, and as almost
everybody drank without compunction, to become occasionally
intoxicated was considered no disgrace. The warm-hearted, con-
vivial young major would go, as the Georgians say, on fearful
"sprees," but despite it all, he held his place in the love of the
people. Politics ran very high, or at least partisanship did.
The Federal party seemed to have died with the disfavor of
the last Governor of that party, George Matthews, but the ani-
mosities of public men were never fiercer.
After Elijah Clarke's sad fall in popular favor, because of
his effort to invade the Creek lands and his antagonism to Gen-
eral Washington, and after the connection of so many of Clarke's
JOHN CLARKE 165
leading friends with the Yazoo speculation, it became a task of
great difficulty to hold his party together, but he did it.
He was a member of the Legislature at the same time with
William H. Crawford, who was about his age and a man of great
ability and of extensive culture for those times.
Clarke had not antagonized the Yazoo men, among whom were
many of his warmest friends. Crawford threw down the gaunt-
let, and allying himself with the Jackson wing of the Eepubli-
cans, began to force his way to the front. It is no secret that
between the Xorth Carolinians and Virginians in Georgia there
was no little strife, and these two young men became the cham-
pions of the two parties.
John Clarke was a man of the people and was associated with
a group of very able young men who were greatly devoted to
him. These young men saw that Crawford was forging ahead
by his tact and ability, and believing that Clarke was the only
man who could check him, they came to his aid. The issue was
made when Crawford espoused warmly the cause of Judge Tait,
as related in the sketch of Mr. Crawford.
It is very evident to any impartial reader of Clarke's pam-
phlet giving an account of this episode, that he intended to pro-
voke a personal difficulty with Crawford after Crawford had
succeeded in securing the election of Judge Tait and the defeat
of Griffin, Clarke's brother-in-law.
A challenge was passed, but the Governor interposed and a
Court of Honor for a time quieted the matter. But Clarke was
intensely angered at his defeat, and had fixed it in his mind that
Crawford and Tait were bent on his ruin. He was a man of
very unhappy temper — unrelenting in his hate and fearfully
suspicious of those whom he felt were his enemies.
A miserable creature from jSTorth Carolina, who was himself a
criminal and who knew of the feeling of hostility between the
parties, concocted a shameful fraud to ruin Clarke and some
enemies of his own in ISTorth Carolina. Tait innocently fell into
a trap set by the schemer. Clarke putting together the circum-
stances, decided in his own. mind that Crawford and Tait had
166 MEN OF MARK
entered into a conspiracy to rob him of his reputation as an hon-
est man. The result was a duel with Crawford, in which the
latter was wounded in the left wrist. He again challenged Craw-
ford without a second offense, and also made an attack on Tait
by striking him with his riding-whip. He was prosecuted
for this offense and was fined two thousand dollars. The Gov-
ernor, however, remitted the fine.
For nearly twenty years this feud went on. Clarke, although
handicapped by his wretched habit of occasional drunkenness,
comparatively unlettered and fiercely antagonized, gathered
about him a party which was more than once triumphant at the
polls. He was without question a man of great native ability,
and had the art of surrounding himself with friends who sup-
plied in culture what he lacked, and whose devotion to him was
beyond question.
Crawford had become very prominent in Federal politics. He
had been United States Senator, Minister to France, Secretary
of the Treasury, and now his lifelong antagonist saw him one of
the most prominent candidates for President. But while Craw-
ford was ahead in Federal politics, Clarke was triumphant in
State circles. His election and reelection by the Legislature as
Governor over his brilliant opponent, George M. Troup, who was
wealthy, of high social position, and had every advantage educa-
tion could give, show his strength as a popular leader.
About this time the election of Governor was given to the
people and Troup defeated Talbot, a Clarke candidate, by a
small majority. Then Clarke came again into the field as
Troup's antagonist and was himself defeated. Crawford was
stricken with paralysis and thus forced from the field. And now
Clarke retired, and so ended the longest continued personal con-
flict ever known among public men in Georgia, or perhaps else-
where in the United States. It was all the more bitter on the
part of Clarke because of the triumphant success of his opponent ;
for the more brilliant the achievements of Crawford the more
unrelenting was the hostility of Clarke. He was by no means
alone, for he had a following among the brainiest men of the
JOHN CLARKE 167
State, and succeeded time and again in carrying the Legislature
against his opponents.
He was very ambitious of military preferment, and was in-
tensely angered when Governor Mitchell appointed General
Floyd to command the State troops in the War of 1812. Gover-
nor Early was his friend and made him Major-General of the
Militia, but too late for him to render any service in the field.
Mr. Clarke changed his residence to Baldwin county, where
he had a large plantation and a beautiful home near Scottsboro.
After his defeat for Governor, he saw his sun was near its set-
ting, and accepted the place of Indian Agent and removed to the
west coast of Florida in 1827. Here, at St. Andrew's Bay, he
and his wife both died of yellow fever.
There is no question of the fact that he had very bitter and
unsparing enemies; that they were determined to prevent his
soaring ambitions from being realized ; that they were not un-
willing to use very questionable means to overthrow him; and
there is no question of the fact that he gave them a quid pro
quo. He might have had a far different fate had he possessed
more self-restraint and been less the victim of his appetite for
strong drink. But what was moderation in some men was excess
in him. Drink crazed him. He was not a driveling drunkard-
only an occasional mad man, made so by stimulants. Colonel
Chappell, who was his political opponent, said in his essay on
his father, that another generation might do him justice — it was
evident that he had not had it in the past.
While more maligned, he was no worse a man than many of
his associates; and of his general integrity, his sterling hon-
esty, his devotion to his family, his unflinching courage, his
open-handed generosity, and his loyalty to friends, there can
be no question. He had great faults and great virtues.
He died October 15, 1832, and was buried at St. Andrews,
Florida.
GEO. G. SMITH.
JSatrib
OXE OF the sturdiest characters that Xorth Carolina gave
to Georgia in the pioneer days of a hundred years ago
was that manly soldier, Gen. David Blackshear. His
ancestors were Germans, who came to Xorth Carolina and
carved a home out of the forest, while the Indians looked on
in wonder. The General himself was wont to tell of the prow-
ess of his forebears by relating that one of the women of the
immigrant party, attacked by a young bull, quickly seized the
infuriated animal by the horns and twisted him over on his
back. Here, on the banks of the Chinquapin Creek not far
from Trenton, January 31, 17G4, David Blackshear was born,
being the third of eight children.
While still a boy of twelve years of age he followed his older
brothers into the Revolutionary struggle for the liberty of the
colonies. He was present at the battle of Moore's Creek and
at the skirmish at Buford's Bridge. After the close of the war
he made several trips to Georgia in a surveying party, running
lines and measuring lands in Wilkes county, under the old
head-rights system of granting lands to those wrho chose to take
them up from the Government. Those trips taught him the
hardships of border life, and attracted him to the new soil of
a frontier State. Accordingly in 1790 David Blackshear moved
to Georgia and settled in the limits of the present county of
Laurens, which was then a part of Washington county. The
remainder of the Blackshear family soon followed him, took
up lands in his neighborhood, and from them have sprung a
large number of descendants who now reside in the State.
His skill as a planter and his general integrity as a citizen
soon made him a man of note among his neighbors. In 1706
he was appointed a justice of the peace by Gov. Jared Irwin.
In 1797 he was appointed to the same office by Gov. James
Jackson. We feel assured that his sense of equity and stern
DAVID BLACKSHEAR . 169
adherence to justice made him deal uprightly with all men in
those primitive times of the State's history.
Indian warfare was so necessarily a part of every man's
training that we are not surprised to know that in 1797 David
Blackshear was a major, and that he received orders for organ-
izing his brigade in view of a prospective war with France at
that time. His interest in military affairs continued all his
life and led him to his greatest fame in the War of 1812.
When thirty-eight years of age Major Blackshear, who had
become a prominent planter and wine-grower, engaged the
affections of Fanny Hamilton, of Hancock county, and in 1802
they were married. From this union was born eleven children,
four of whom died in infancy, and seven of whom, all sons,
grew to be influential men in the many communities where they
resided.
The approach of the War of 1812 found Georgia taking active
measures to provide herself with defenses. Gov. David B.
Mitchell in 1812 promoted Major Blackshear to the rank of a
brigadier general. In conjunction with Major-General John
Floyd, of Carnden county, and Major-General John Mclutosh,
a nephew of the famous Gen. Lachlan Mclntosh, of Revolu-
tionary history, General Blackshear was at once called into
active service to defend the State against threatened attacks of
the British from the South, as well as from the uprising of the
Creeks in Alabama and the Seminoles in Florida.
General Andrew Jackson had carried on the war against the
Creeks in Alabama and had delivered them a crushing blow
at Horse Shoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River. A large tract
of territory was ceded by the Indians, including nearly all the
land between the Altainaha and Chattahoochee rivers, out of
which twenty counties in Georgia had been formed. General
Jackson had hastened to Mobile, where he learned that the Brit-
ish had landed troops at Pensacola and at Appalachicola and
were inciting the Indians to overrun Georgia. Governor Peter
Early appointed General David Blackshear to the command of
170 MKN OF MARK
the frontier, General Floyd being disabled on account of his
wounds.
Xiws soon came that the Scminoles had risen along Flint
river, and General Blaekshear was sent with a body of troops to
subdue them. When he reached the Flint River he found that
the Indians had dispersed and that General Jackson had moved
to Xew Orleans. In January, 1815, a large fleet of British
vessels appeared off the coast of Georgia. General Blaekshear
was promptly ordered to join General Floyd at Savannah. He
started out at once and the road he built for his march on that
occasion was called "The Blaekshear Road," and as such is
still known at the present day. Xews of the victory at JiSTew
Orleans came by Indian runners from Mobile to Fort Hawkins,
the present site of the city of Macon. Soon after, news reached
Georgia that the treaty of Ghent had put a stop to the war.
This ended the active military career of General Blaekshear,
i/
who retired to his home in Laurens county on the Oconee River,
and resumed his peaceful occupations of farming and wine
growing. The Legislature of 1815 passed a resolution of thanks
to General Blaekshear and the other officers who had served
the State in the war.
The Legislature of 1815 appointed him a member of the
Board of Commissioners for the Improvement of the Xaviga-
tion of the Oconee River, in order that boats might pass from
its junction with the Ocmulgee up to ]\Iilledgeville. This em-
ployment took much time and labor, with no reward except the
Commissioner's duty well done.
General Blaekshear was Senator from Laurens county in the
Legislature from 1816 to 1825, up to the time he voluntarily
withdrew from public life. His influence was pronounced, and
the wisest of the members were glad to confer with him on pub-
lic matters. He spoke rarely, but with gravity and matured
judgment. He was dignified and positive, spoke to the point
with a clear voice and a pleasing manner. In 1818 he threw
his influence in favor of the election of John Forsyth for United
States Senator, introducing that great man to the sphere in
which he won so much renown.
DAVID BLACKSHEAR 171
He was a presidential elector when Mr. Jefferson was elected,
and again when General Jackson was chosen. The flourishing
town of Blackshear, county seat of Pierce county, was named
in his honor.
General Blackshear spent the declining years of his life on
his farm. He was a skilled farmer, well versed in vegetable
chemistry and soil analysis. He cultivated the grape exten-
sively and was well acquainted with all the process of wine-
making. His farm contained large orchards from which apple
and peach brandies of the best sort were made. He raised
sugar cane in quantities, and made syrup of the finest sort. In
fact his farm was a well ordered, prosperous enterprise, yield-
ing him an abundant income and offering to his friends and
neighbors an old-time hospitality, graciously and agreeably
dispensed.
Here, surrounded by the members of his family, at the vener-
able age of seventy-three years, with the esteem and regard of
the people whom he had fought to protect and labored to serve,
the noble old general passed peacefully away on July 4, 1837,
leaving as clean a record of an honorable and well-spent life as
any man we have ever had in the annals of Georgia.
LAWTON B. EVANS.
OTtlltam Bellinger
NO XAME is more honorably known in Georgia than that
of Bulloch. Archibald Bulloch, born in South Caro-
lina, in 1730, was the first governor under the Revolu-
tionary government, elected in 1776, and died suddenly while
holding that office, on February 22, 1777. He was one of the
leaders of the patriots in the State, being associated with such
men as John Houston, Lyman Hall, Button Gwinnett and
George Walton. He married a Miss Mary DeVeaux. Of the
four children born of that marriage, William Bellinger Bulloch
was the youngest. William B. Bulloch was born in 1776. He
received the best education obtainable at that time, studied hnv,
and commenced the practice of the profession at Savannah, in
1797. He promptly gained recognition at the bar, and in 1804
was appointed by President Jefferson United States Attorney
for the District of Georgia. In 1809 he became mayor of Sa-
vannah, and served until the War of 1812, when he became a
major in the Savannah Heavy Artillery. In 1813, when Wil-
liam H. Crawford resigned from the United States Senate, .Mr.
Bulloch was appointed by the Governor pro tempore senator,
and served from May 24, 1813, to December 6, 1813, when W.
Wyatt Bibb, who had been elected as Mr. Crawford's successor,
took his seat. He also served the State as a Solicitor-General
of his circuit.
In 1816 he became one of the founders of the State Bank of
Georgia and served as its president from that time until 1843,
twenty-seven years. In 1844 he was appointed collector of
customs at the port of Savannah, receiving the strongest endorse-
ments of such men as Howell Cobb, William H. Stiles and John
M. Berrien. He died at Savannah on May 6, 1852, at the age
of seventy-six.
In addition to the public services enumerated, Mr. Bulloch
WILLIAM BELLINGER BULLOCH 173
served in both branches of the State Legislature and several
times as a presidential elector. He was one of the incorpo-
rators and a vice-president of the Georgia Historical Society,
and served as a warden of Christ's Church in Savannah. He
was also prominent in Masonic circles. Mr. Bulloch was a
man of high character, very superior intelligence, a good lawyer,
a faithful public servant, and kept untarnished the great name
handed down by his distinguished father. Ex-President Roose-
velt is a grandson of his elder brother James.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
Samuel
SAMUEL BUTTS, belonging to a family noted for its
patriotism and fearless independence, was born November
24, 1777, on his father's farm in Southampton, Va. His
first paternal ancestor in America, Thomas Butts, was among
the original pioneers who settled Jamestown, Va. His grand-
father, James Butts, was commissioned as Captain of the Vir-
ginia Militia, following the fortunes of General ''Light Horse"
Harry Lee's command throughout the Revolutionary War.
His father, Simmons Butts, served as captain during the War
of 1812 and greatly distinguished himself for discretion, brav-
ery, and humane treatment to his men whilst serving under
Gen. Jett Thomas and Col. Ignatius Few, both illustrious Geor-
gians. At the same time, Lewis Butts, his brother, although
a private, was in the same command and was highly esteemed
as a soldier.
On his mother's side his grandfather, Spratling Simmons,
was also in the Revolutionary War, under Gen. Nathaniel
Greene. He took active part in many battles, notably Guilford
Court House, Germantown, Brandywine, Cowpens, etc.
For that period the subject of this sketch had good educa-
tional advantages. Besides having been trained in the best
common schools of the land, "he was taught for some time
Latin and Greek and the sciences by Rev. George Guerly,
South Hampton, who for many years presided over the leading
school of the State." When quite a young man he came with
his father's family to Georgia, settling first in Hancock county.
As soon as he arrived at maturity he went to Monticello, Jasper
county, Ga. In 1807 Jasper county was organized as Ran-
dolph, and soon after Mr. Butts removed to it; in 1812, through
the efforts of many good citizens, led by Mr. Butts, the Georgia
Legislature was induced to change its name to Jasper county.
For some time he engaged at this place in mercantile pursuits,
SAMUEL BUTTS 175
and on account of fair dealing and engaging manners, he be-
came quite popular, and soon drove a successful business.
During the British war, which lasted from 1812 to 1815, the
Indians all along the Georgia and Alabama frontiers, instigated
by the British to feel that any white settlement among or near
them, was an encroachment upon their domain, had risen en
masse against the whites, visiting upon them many horrible
atrocities.
In 1813 the Federal Government called upon Hon. Peter
Early, then Governor of Georgia, for a levy of troops from his
State for the purpose of suppressing these Indian outrages.
His Excellency responded at once, placing them in charge of
Major-General Floyd, in whose prudence and valor he had the
highest confidence.
Almost every county in Middle Georgia very soon raised a
company. The good people of Jasper raised its quota. Sam-
uel Butts joined this company as a private, but before reaching
the seat of war, which was in upper western Georgia and eastern
Alabama, he was unanimously elected captain. Reaching the
scene of action his company at once joined General Floyd's
command, doing good service in waging war against the savage
Indians at Autossee, Tallasee, Camp Defiance, and other places.
In all these engagements "for bravery no officer stood higher
than did Capt. Samuel Butts. All special orders entrusted to
him were faithfully executed with coolness and discretion."
On the morning of January 27, 1814, before day, the Indians
attacked General Floyd's camp. The darkness of the hour, the
covert afforded the Indians by the thick pines with which the
camp was surrounded, the total want of breastworks, and the
surprise which the first yell of the savages occasioned, were well
calculated to put the courage of his men to the severest test.
But with the coolest intrepidity they met the enemy. Xot a
platoon faltered, but every man brought into action kept up a
constant and brisk fire. At the dawn of day General Floyd
ordered a charge, and in less than fifteen minutes every hostile
Indian, except those dead and dying, had fled from the battle-
176 MKN OF MARK
field. While at the head of his command, Captain Butts was
shot through the body and soon died "In this action, known in
the official reports as the battle of Chillabee, the detachment
sustained severe losses in both killed and wounded. Among
the former was that gallant soldier and true patriot, Capt.
Samuel Butts."
In the battle of Chillabee such a defeat was inflicted upon
the hostile Indians, that for a long time they became less trouble-
some. The results of this battle and several others were of
such forceful character that they enabled Gen. Andrew Jack-
son to work quite a change in the condition of affairs through-
out the land.
Captain Butts left several children whose descendants today
are scattered from Georgia and Illinois to Texas. During the
late Civil War between the States his grandsons and great-
grandsons fought against each other under the "Stars and
Stripes" and "Stars and Bars." It is claimed there is scarcely a
county in the State of Georgia, in which there are not some of
Captain Butts' descendants residing, many of whom are noble
men and fair women, fully illustrating the noble escutcheon be-
queathed them by their illustrious progenitor.
Capt. Henry Butts, his eldest son, when a young man fol-
lowed the example of his father, and for many years was a suc-
cessful Indian fighter. After leaving the service, he settled
in Upson county, where he died at the ripe old age of ninety-
eight, much beloved and highly respected.
His second son, Jesse Butts, left Hancock county, removing
to the State of Illinois before the late Civil War. His sons all
entered the Union Army, and at the battle of Chickamauga two
of them were captured and brought to Atlanta. Here as pris-
oners they were confined in an ordinary two-story wooden build-
ing, from which they escaped and after many wanderings, found
their way to a house of a relative, a true Confederate in Troup
county. Here, notwithstanding they were at the home of peo-
ple of very strong Southern feeling, they were most tenderly
cared for.
SAMUEL BUTTS 177
A daughter, Elizabeth, married James F. West, of Monroe
county. From this union have sprung many sons and grand-
sons, many of whom bore conspicuous parts in the late Confed-
erate army, notably Gen. Andrew J. West, who has for the
last forty years made Atlanta his home. General West has
always been held in high esteem by his Confederate companions,
and has, by their wishes, held almost every important office to
which they could promote him.
In honor of Capt. Samuel Butts, the Legislature of Georgia,
during the session of 1825, cut off from the counties of Henry
and Monroe a very prosperous county, naming it for him.
There is a commendable proposition on foot in Alabama that
a commission be appointed by the Governor to urge Congress
to set aside the picturesque land known as Horse Shoe Bend on
the Tallapoosa River as a National Park, in honor of the great
achievements wrought by General Jackson in the spring of
1814 at Autossee, Chillabee, and other points.
R. J. MASSEY.
12
f ofm Coffee.
JOHN COFFEE, Indian fighter, planter and congressman,
was born in the State of Virginia, in 1780, and when a
small boy his father removed with his family to Hancock
county, Ga. The family is said to be of Irish descent. There
is a family tradition that early in the settlement of America two
brothers came from Ireland, and from these two brothers origi-
nated all the people of that name now in the country. Each
of these two brothers had a son who became famous during the
Indian wars, each of these sons being named John, and each
of them rising to the rank of general. There is much confusion
in the public mind over these two Johns. General John Coffee,
of Tennessee, a cousin of General Coffee, of Georgia, was Jack-
son's right-hand man in the Creek campaign and in the New
Orleans campaign. He was an able soldier and made a most
brilliant record. After the War of 1812 he moved to Alabama
and resided in that State until his death. General John Coffee,
of Georgia, was not associated with General Jackson in his
campaigns, but later on he became a personal friend of that dis-
tinguished man. His military services appear to have been
rendered to the State of Georgia in connection mainly with the
Indian troubles of the first twenty-five years of the nineteenth
century. In his youth he moved from Hancock county to Tel-
fair county, which at that time had an area of about eight hun-
dred miles with seven hundred and fifty inhabitants. It was
then a frontier country, abounding in vast forests and great
quantities of game. General Coffee, young, active and fond
of the hunt, became a leader in these sports, and from this it
was natural, when troubles came involving military service, that
he should become a leader among the people of his section.
Most of his military service was rendered in South Georgia and
Florida, and as it was a wilderness country, he is said to have
cut out and built a road for the transport of his munition and
, I
GEN. JOHN COFFEE
f oim jflttton.
COLONEL JOHN MILTON, whose name is perpetu-
ated in Georgia in Milton county, was a son of John
Milton, who came from England and settled in Halifax
county, N. C., about 1730. This first John Milton married
Mary Farr, and the second John became one of the notable
figures in Georgia Revolutionary history. When that struggle
began he was a planter in the new colony of Georgia, and on
the organization of the Georgia State government was of suffi-
cient prominence to be elected the first Secretary of State.
When the British overran the State and it looked as if the cause
of liberty was to be lost, as Secretary of State, with great
difficulty he removed the State records to Charleston. Later
fearing capture by the British, he carried them to New Bern,
N. C., and from there to Maryland, where they remained until
he was enabled to bring them back to Georgia at the close of
the Revolution. Naturally, a man of his temperament could
not keep out of the fighting, and so he became a lieutenant in
the Continental army and served valiantly at the decisive bat-
tle of Kings Mountain. After the British had overrun lower
Georgia, the counties of Wilkes and Richmond were all that was
left. Delegates from these counties met and formed an execu-
tive committee, of which John Milton was a member, he being
the only representative of the State government in the State,
and for a time was practically the ruling power in civil life,
though merely a lieutenant in the army. At the surrender of
Fort Howe to the British and Indians, he was one of the prison-
ers, and with Lieut. William Caldwell was confined for
nine months in a dungeon at the old Spanish fort of St. Augus-
tine. Meantime he had been promoted to Captain, and per-
formed some staff duty, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.
When the tide turned in favor of the patriots after Greene's
strong campaign, he was reelected Secretary of State in 1781,
182 MKN OF MARK
in 1783, and again in 1789. Such was his personal popularity
that at the first election for President of the United States he
received the vote of part of the electors of Georgia for Presi-
dent. Retiring from politics, after this the remainder of his
life was spent on his plantation near Louisville, Jefferson
county. He was a charter member of the "Society of the Cin-
cinnati," and served as secretary of the Georgia branch.
Colonel Milton married Miss Hannah E. Spencer, a relative
of the Pinkneys, Moultries and Rutledges of South Carolina.
Of this marriage two children were born. Anna Maria mar-
ried Benjamin F. Harris, of Georgia, and their three sons were
officers of the Confederate Army. The other child was a son,
Homer Virgil Milton, a planter, who became an officer in the
regular army, rendered gallant service in the War of 1812, and
was promoted to General. He died in 1824 when only forty-
one years of age. He left four children, one of whom, John
Milton, became Governor of Florida, and was for many years
the leading man in that State. One of Governor John Milton's
sons was General William Henry Milton, a gallant Confederate
officer, very prominent during his entire life in the public life
of the State of Florida, and died in 1900. His son, William
Hall Milton, a banker of Marianna, Fla., has also been promi-
nent in Florida life and has recently filled a seat in the United
States Senate. The widow of the late Governor W. Y. Atkin-
son, of Georgia, is also a lineal descendant of John Milton.
It will thus be seen that Col. John Milton not only rendered
valuable services to his country during his own life, but was the
progenitor of a long line of distinguished descendants.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
Batrib ?irpbte
DR. DAVID BEYDIE was by profession a physician who
served both as a soldier and surgeon in the War of
the Revolution, and who, at the skirmish near Midway,
in which General Screven was mortally wounded, attended that
gallant officer, though unable to save his life. When the Brit-
ish captured Savannah, Dr. Brydie was confined on a prison
ship, and like a majority of those confined in the prison ships,
died. He had accumulated an estate in Georgia, which he left
by his will to his nephew, David Brydie Mitchell, a youth in
Scotland. David B. Mitchell was the son of John Mitchell,
and was born in Scotland, on October 22, 1766. In 1783 he
came to Savannah, a youth of seventeen, to take possession of
the estate left him by his uncle. After arranging the business
of the inheritance, he was so well pleased that he decided to
settle in Georgia and make the State his home. He studied
law under former Governor William Stephens, who had served
as Colonial Governor from 1743 to 1750. The criminal code
of the State was undergoing a revision at this time, and the
committee appointed to revise it met for their sessions at the
house of Mr. Stephens. Mr. Mitchell was appointed clerk of
this body, and from writing the acts over several times, became
well saturated with Georgia law. He gained a foothold at
the bar, and in 1795 was elected the solicitor-general of his
circuit. In 1796 he was in the lower house of the General As-
sembly. On the floor of the House he was active and especially
prominent in opposition to the Yazoo Fraud, though unable to
defeat it at that session. He rapidly gained favor with the
people, and in 1804 he was made Major-General of the First
division of Georgia militia, which office he held until elected
Governor of Georgia on the ninth day of November, 1809.
It will be seen from this record that Governor Mitchell had
grown rapidly in popular favor. Coming to the country at
184 MEN OF MARK
seventeen, at forty-three he was Governor of the State. In his
first communication to the General Assembly he tendered his
resignation of his office as major-general. On this subject he
concluded, as follows: "In doing this, I trust you will do me
the justice to believe that I am actuated by no motive but a
sense of my duty, and that I am penetrated with the most pro-
found sentiments of gratitude for all former evidence of public
confidence and, in an especial manner, for that by which,
through your marked suffrage, I am elevated to the rank I now
hold in the State." Governor Mitchell had felt impelled to
make a special explanation of this resignation, because in a
message sent in by his immediate predecessor, Jared I. Irwin,
Governor Irwin's message indicated very plainly that there was
prospect of war, and Governor Mitchell felt that his duty as
governor would conflict with his duty as a military official,
and, therefore, it was necessary to make a vacancy that
could be filled by a man who could take the field. Decem-
ber 12, 1809, he sent his second message to the Legislature
accompanied by a message from, Thomas Jefferson, then
President of the United States. In this message he plainly
indicated that despite the desire of the United States to remain
at peace with all nations, the situation had become so compli-
cated and so desperate between the warring nations of Europe
that the United States would be drawn into the vortex of war.
On November 5, 1810, he sent a message to the Legislature, in
which he set forth spoliations and aggressions of Great Britain,
and called upon the Legislature to make ample provision for
Georgia's part in the conflict then impending. During the first
year of his administration he had suppressed Indian excesses
on the southern frontier. In 1811 he made strenuous effort to
reconcile the dispute between North Carolina and Georgia as
to boundaries, but in this did not succeed. On November 3,
1812, he called the attention of the Legislature as soon as as-
sembled to the declaration of war against Great Britain, "in
vindication of honor and indubitable rights." He further said :
''The insolent and arbitrary domination assumed by the Brit-
DAVID BRYDIE MITCHELL 185
ish to control by her naval power the rights of this country,
and the measures adopted by our Government with a view to
bringing the corrupt and corrupting ministry of Great Britain
to a sense of justice, have been felt by Georgia with as much
severity as any other State in the Union. Permit me to ask,
if a submission to the black catalogue of British aggression
would not be a submission to degradation and dishonor. Let
us, therefore, maintain the character we have acquired, and
with heart, and hand in support of the Government and the
contest in which our Government is now engaged. It is a con-
test sanctioned by justice and prompted by necessity, and under
the guidance of Divine Providence we shall attain the objects
for which we contend." He at once began such operations as
would enable Georgia to do her part in the contest and protect
her frontiers against the warlike Creeks. In his message to
the General Assembly on November 1, 1813, he alluded with
pride to the achievements of the navy. His first term expired
on November 5th in that year and he was succeeded by Peter
Early, who continued as Governor during the remainder of the
war with Great Britain. On November 9, 1815, he was again
elected Governor, succeeding Governor Early. Peace had been
declared between the United States and Great Britain. Gover-
nor Mitchell, governed by the experience of the late war and
his own practical knowledge of military affairs, in his first mes-
sage to the Legislature, made a statement of the condition of
the military equipment of the State, and asked that the quantity
be properly increased. His idea was that the State should keep
itself in a condition of preparedness. He was ably supported
in these measures by David Newman, Adjutant-General of
Georgia Militia. In 1817 the President of the United States
appointed him agent to the Creek nation, and on the 4th of
November that year he resigned his office as Governor to ac-
cept this appointment. In announcing the fact to the Legisla-
ture, he said : "In retiring from the service of the State, I shall
carry with me a just sense of the obligation which their long-
continued confidence has laid me under, and my gratitude will
IM; MEN OF MARK
be as lasting as my life. In the various and complicated duties
which, in the course of my public life I have been called upon
to perform, I can not flatter myself that my conduct has been
exempt from error; but my conscience acquits me of any inten-
tional departure from duty. Devoted as I have been to the
service of the State, and still ardently desiring to see her pros-
perous and happy, it is a reflection which gives me much pleas-
ure, that the duties of the appointment I am about to enter
upon are so intimately connected with the interest of the State,
that by a faithful discharge of the one, the other will be
promoted."
On the 22d of January, 1818, he concluded the treaty with
the Creek Indians at the agency. Like nearly every man con-
nected with the Indians in an official capacity in those troub-
lous years his conduct was sharply criticized, but nothing was
shown detrimental to his character After his retirement from
that service, he took no further part in public life and made his
home at Milledgeville, where he died April 22, 1837, at the
age of seventy-one. He served Georgia as her Governor faith-
fully and well for six years, and the Legislature ordered a mar-
ble slab placed over his grave in memory of his distinguished
public service. This slab now rests upon his grave in the ceme-
tery at Milledgeville, and bears this inscription : "In memory
of David Brydie Mitchell, Senator for the county of Baldwin
and former Governor of Georgia. Born near Muthil, Perth-
shire, Scotland, 22d October, 1700, died in Milledgeville, Ga.,
22d April, 1837. This stone is erected by vote of the Legis-
lature of Georgia."
Mitchell county, organized in 1857, was named in honor of
Governor Mitchell.
A. B. CALDWELL.
. Jflurrap.
IN" THE extreme northern part of Georgia lies Murray
county. It is a county of fertile valleys, rolling hills,
rugged mountains, and beautiful streams, a picturesque
country, a pleasant land. The county was cut off from Chero-
kee in 1832 and named in honor of Thomas W. Murray, the
subject of this sketch, and of whose life we know far too little,
considering the esteem in which he was held by his generation.
We know that he was a son of David Murray, who came from
Prince Edward county, Va., shortly after the Revolutionary
War and settled in what was then Wilkes, now Lincoln county.
Thomas W. Murray was born in Lincoln county, Ga., in
the year 1790. Lie received his education at the school of Dr.
Waddell, Wellington, Abbeville district, S. C. After leaving
school, he studied law in the office of Mr. George Cook, of
Elbert county. Eor some years he quietly practiced law, mak-
ing some reputation as a sound, though not brilliant lawyer.
In 1818 he entered public life as a member of the Legisla-
ture, and to the surprise of many at once forged to the front.
This was due, not to any brilliancy or dash, but to the strong
personality of the man. He was a large featured man, nearly
six feet in height, of composed manners and commanding ap-
pearance. He was notable for two decided characteristics,
personal independence and a high sense of honor. His per-
sonal independence led him at times to vote against the views
of his party friends, and his sense of honor made him proof
against the wiles and schemes of the mere politician. Lie was
slow to form opinions, taking time to make thorough investiga-
tions and to revolve the matter thoroughly in his mind, but an
opinion once formed it was difficult, almost to the point of im-
possibility, to induce him to change it. He held to the opinion
that even in one's political enemies much virtue might be found,
and he, therefore, made it a rule to give impartial justice to his
political enemies.
188 MKN OF MARK
After spending some years as a representative on the floor
of the House of Representatives, he was elevated to the Speak-
ership and administered that high office with such justice and
impartiality that even his political opponents gave him great
praise.
In 1830 the disposition of the ceded Cherokee lands was a
burning question, and Governor Gilmer called an extra session
to meet on October 18, 1830. The business was urgent and
complicated. Many vexed questions arose and the discussion
was at all times able, and sometimes acrimonious. At this ses-
sion, Murray was a prominent figure, and won such credit
that when new counties were being created, he was honored, in
1832, by having one of the best named for him. The county
so named was fairly typical of the man, its rugged hills could
well typify his rugged honesty and determination of purpose,
while its smiling plains fairly typified his ordinary pleasant
composure of manner.
So successful had been his public career that he was named
as a candidate for the Federal Congress, but died suddenly, be-
fore the election, of heart disease. He was in his prime, being
at the time of his death in the early forties. The family was
said to have been of Scotch origin and to have had many dis-
tinguished members in various departments of human effort,
lawyers, bankers, merchants, and planters.
His life motto is said to have been that his duty was to try to
make the world better, and his contemporaries bore testimony to
the fidelity with which he lived up to his ideals. He was essen-
tially a strong man and a doer.
The men of that formative period of our Nation were so busy
meeting the daily and pressing problems, so busy doing things
that could not be postponed, that they very naturally failed in
some things, and one of their failures was to leave behind them
no satisfactory data for the biographer who would show prop-
erly the life-work of these strong men. A fitful gleam of light
here and there, throwing into relief some stalwart figure, is the
framework upon which we must fill out the pictures of far too
many of our valiant forebears.
THOMAS W. MURRAY 189
By these fitful gleams we know Thomas W. Murray to have
been a strong, resolute, unselfish patriot, whose private life was
honorable, and whose public career was without blemish. Of
this much we may be sure, because both his political friends
and opponents agreed, even in his own time, to that extent, and
upon that judgment we may securely rest.
The records show that he served in the Legislature in 1818-
19-20-21-22-24-25-26-30. He was Speaker of the House in
1825. During his entire service he was a prominent figure and
did excellent work.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
J oim
JOHN RAY, who for forty years was one of the foremost
men at the Georgia bar and a leader in the political life
of the State, was of Scotch-Irish origin. He was bom at
Drim Stevlin, Donegal, province of Ulster, Ireland, on March
17, 1792. His parents were David and Lucy (Atcherson)
Ray, strict Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. Young John was reared
in his native village, and being of a studious disposition ac-
quired a good education. At the age of twenty, with the con-
sent of his parents, he came to America, and landed at Phila-
delphia, October 27, 1812. He spent a few weeks with an
uncle already domiciled in this country, and then opened a
school in Chester county, Pa. Later he taught on the eastern
shore of Maryland. In 1822 he began the study of law at
Staunton, Ya., and was admitted to the bar in Richmond in
1823. Moving to Augusta, Ga., he taught a grammar school,
in which he had as scholars some of the leading merchants of
that city. This grammar school was peculiar, inasmuch as it
was intended for grown people rather than children. He also
taught school for one year at Washington, Wilkes county, where
among the pupils was a boy, afterwards distinguished as the
Hon. Robert Toombs. In 1828 he moved to Coweta county,
which had but recently been purchased from the Creek Indians,
and began the practice of law at the county site, ISTewnan. His
practice was successful from the start, and he acquired a high
reputation for legal ability, not only in his judicial circuit, but
throughout all western Georgia. In addition to his important
litigation he did nearly the entire collecting business for the
merchants of Augusta and Charleston. Pleading was then a
fine art, and he was especially skilled in that part of the pro-
fession. He was an orator, with full, rich voice and graceful
gestures, remarkable mastery of language, and a glowing imagi-
nation. When to these gifts was added a careful preparation
JOHN RAY 191
of his cases, with a thorough knowledge of the law, his pre-
eminence as a lawyer can be understood.
In 1833 he married Miss Bethenia G. Lavender, of the best
Virginia stock, by whom he had six children. The great need
of that time was schools, and Mr. Ray, in spite of the demands
of his great practice, devoted much time to the cause of educa-
tion. He organized a scheme for building a large new semi-
nary. Subscribing five hundred dollars, he was made president
of the board of trustees, which place he held and filled effectively,
without interruption, until his death, a period of thirty years.
He obtained the best teachers from the North, sending his car-
riage to Augusta for them, in that era without railroads, and
had the satisfaction of seeing the ISTewnan Seminary become a
famous seat of learning for western Georgia.
In 1848, when the "Palmetto Regiment" of South Carolina
was on its way to the seat of war in Mexico, it passed through
ISTewnan. The citizens, learning of their approach, prepared
a dinner for the entire regiment, and selected John Ray to
deliver the welcoming address. This he did, in words so glowing
with eloquence and patriotism as to win the hearty applause of
both soldiers and citizens. He had the hospitality of an Irish-
man and the business judgment of a Scotchman. His charity
never failed and his courtesy was of equal quality to all. He
kept in his heart a warm spot for his Irish fellow-countrymen,
and aided them to find employment, loaned money to the needy,
and cared for the sick. He invested his large earnings in
plantations and negro slaves, and was a humane master. His
slaves had the best of care, were protected from the cruelty of
overseers, were well fed, with good houses, and a garden patch
and orchard for each family. He looked especially after their
morals, required them to attend church, and supplied them with
colored preachers. He so won their affection that after the
emancipation nearly all of them remained in his employment
up to his death.
Among the public men of the day he had a host of warm
friends, among them Senator Walter T. Colquitt, Supreme
192 MKN OF MARK
Court Justice Hiram "Warner, Congressman Hugh A. Haralson,
Charles Dougherty, Judge Kenyon, and others. Former Gov-
ernor Joseph E. Brown, himself a fine judge of men, spoke of
him as one of the most capable of his contemporaries. While
an active Democrat, always ready to give time and service to the
public, Mr. Ray invariably declined office, though often urged
to accept. In 1862 his friends, despite his wishes, made him
presidential elector, and he cast the vote of Georgia for Jeffer-
son Davis and Alexander Stephens for President and \rice-
President of the Confederacy. He was an ardent champion of
the South in the war, but never lost his calmness and prudence,
which is illustrated by the following incident : When the Ordi-
nance of Secession was passed, the people of Newnan met to
ratify it. It was an occasion of excitement, and one of the
enthusiastic speakers claimed that one Southerner could whip
ten Northerners. Judge Ray responded to the urgent calls, and
while approving the action of the Secession Convention, he
deplored the talk of war. Said it was a very sad hour for him.
He further went on to say that, while having great faith in
Southern valor and not doubting that under certain circum-
stances one Southern man might overcome two, five, or even ten
Northerners, as for himself he preferred to fight man to man.
This moderation carried the crowd with its quiet sense and
sarcasm.
Mr. Ray died July 21, 1868, and was buried in the cemetery
at Newnan, Ga., where for forty years he had been an honored
citizen. Of the six children born to him, Georgia Ann married
Abner R. Welborn, and is now deceased ; Mary Lucy married,
first Joseph R. Holliday, and later Capt. Isaac S. Boyd, and
is now deceased; Susan Adele married W. B. Melson, and is
now deceased. His surviving children are Hibernia Emmett,
who married Andrew J. Love, of Harris county; Capt. John
D. Ray, who married Miss Mary Rawson, of Atlanta, and is a
planter in Coweta county; Hon. Lavender R. Ray, a farmer
and lawyer at Newnan, and State senator in 1884-85, now a
resident of Atlanta, who married Miss Annie Felder, of
Americus. BERNARD SUTTLER.
Walter QTerrp Colquttt.
LIKE so many of the eminent men of Georgia in the early
half of the nineteenth century, Judge Walter T. Colquitt
was born in Virginia, on December 27, 1799. His people
were settled in Halifax county, in the southern section of the
Old Dominion. His mother was a Miss Holt, and numerous
members of her family have achieved prominent positions in
Georgia. For the forty years succeeding the Revolutionary
war, there was a strong immigration into Georgia from Virginia,
and the Holts and Colquitts were among those who came in the
early years of the nineteenth century. At the time of the
removal Judge Colquitt was a small boy, and his early education
was obtained at the famous academy of Mount Zion, taught by
Dr. Beman. His education was completed at Princeton Uni-
versity. Choosing the legal profession, he entered the office of
Samuel Rockwell, at Milledgeville, and upon being admitted to
the bar his great talents attracted immediate attention and
brought him a large clientage. So quickly did he rise that at
the age of twenty-one he was made a brigadier-general of State
militia, an unheard of honor for so young a man. In 1826,
being then in his twenty-seventh year, he was a candidate for
Congress on what was known as the "Troup ticket," and though
his opponent was Wilson Lumpkin, then one of the leading men
of the State, and later governor, he reduced a normal majority of
two thousand to a beggarly plurality of thirty-two. In that
same year he was appointed judge of the newly created Chatta-
hoochee circuit. Judge Colquitt, though a sound and faithful
judge, was not partial to the bench, but preferred the rough
and tumble work of the general practice, and was especially
partial to political struggles, in which he shone at his best. He
left the bench in 1832 and returned to his private practice.
In the meantime he had become a prominent champion of his
13
194 MEN OF MARK
party in the State, being what was known as a States Rights
Whig. In 1838, after having served two terms in the State
senate, he was elected to Congress on the Whig ticket. On the
nomination of William Henry Harrison for the presidency,
Judge Colqnitt resigned and supported Martin Van Buren.
This was a matter of conscience with him and was not held
against him by his constituents in Georgia, for they shortly
afterwards reelected him, and in 1843 he was elected to the
United States Senate to succeed Alfred Cuthbert. He sup-
ported the Polk administration and approved the .Mexican War,
but opposed the Wilmot Proviso. He resigned his seat in 1848
and was succeeded by Herschel V. Johnson. This completed
his political career, and the remainder of his life was spent in
the practice of his profession.
Among his relations on his mother's side were Judge William
W. Holt, of Augusta; Thaddeus G. and Gen. William S. Holt,
of Macon ; the Hon. Hines Holt, of Columbus, and Mrs. Judge
N". L. Hutchins, of Lawrenceville, the mother of the late Judge
Hutchins.
Judge Colquitt was three times married. His first wife was
Xancy H., a daughter of Joseph Lane, of ISTewton, who bore
him six children. His second wife, who lived only a short time
after her marriage, was Alphia B. Fauntelroy, an aunt of Dr.
J. S. Todd, of Atlanta. His third wife was Harriet W., a
daughter of Luke Ross, of Macon, and sister of John B. Ross,
Macon's foremost merchant in antebellum days.
Judge Colquitt's political life began as a Whig and ended as
a Democrat, but he was at all times a staunch and devoted ad-
herent of the doctrine of States rights. A man of strong con-
victions, he never allowed any personal advantage to influence
his conduct, and was ready at any time to lay down the proudest
position whenever the holding of it conflicted with his consci-
entious scruples. Though a strong man physically, he made
such inroads upon his strength by the tremendous energy which
he put into his work that he wore himself out prematurely, and
died in 1855, at the early age of fifty-six.
WALTER TERRY COLQUITT 195
His contemporaries said of him that he was the most versatile
man that the State had ever produced. Judge Richard H.
Clark, a discriminating judge, who was contemporary, said that
he was Sheridan, Garrick and Spurgeon all united in one. A
devoted member of the Methodist church, he had in his early
manhood been ordained to the ministry, and served his church
during the remainder of his life as a local preacher whenever
the opportunity permitted. It is said that he was the only other
Georgian who possessed the wonderful musical powers of voice
that made it such a treat to listen to Chief Justice Joseph Henry
Lumpkin. At the bar he was a great pleader ; on the bench he
was a conscientious judge ; in the halls of Congress he was a
clean, honest statesman, able to uphold any cause that he might
advocate, with an eloquence second to no man of his time. One
of his sons, Peyton H. Colquitt, became colonel of the forty-sixth
Georgia regiment in the Civil War, and was killed at the battle
of Chickarnauga, in 1863, while gallantly leading his regiment.
Another son, Alfred Holt Colquitt, entered the Civil War as a
private, rose to be a major-general, and as the commanding
officer at the battle of Olustee won a brilliant victory from which
was drawn his title of "The Hero of Olustee," became governor
of the State, finally United States Senator, and died while hold-
ing that office. The public service of the father and son covered
a period of seventy-four years, from 1820 to 1894, and their
memory is held in affectionate esteem by the people of Georgia
whom they served with such distinguished fidelity.
BERNARD SUTTLER.
Cone Jf amity.
FOR one hundred and thirty years the Cone family has been
contributing in each generation splendid citizens and sol-
diers to the service of Georgia and Florida. Previous
works of history and biography have dealt with this family in a
very meager way, as will appear from the record.
OTtlltam Cone, tfje Cloer.
Daniel Cone, who settled at Haddain, Conn., in 1662, was the
American progenitor. One of his descendants moved south and
located on the Pee Dee River in Xorth Carolina. Here in 1745
was born William Cone, the Revolutionary soldier, who is
generally believed to have been a son of William, though this
is not altogether certain, as his father's name may have been
Aaron. Previous to the Revolution, William Cone married
Keziah Barber, moved to Georgia, and was among the pioneer
settlers of Bulloch county. He was an ardent patriot and during
the Revolution saw service in McLean's regiment and under
Gen. Francis Marion. This Capt. William Cone was a terror to
the Tories, as several incidents will show. When the notorious
Tory, McGirth, and his followers were terrorizing that part
of the State, it was learned that one Cargill harbored the Tories
and gave them information about the Whigs. Cargill was
advised that it meant death if he was again found in company
with McGirth. !N"ot long after, when William Cone was hunt-
ing deer on the Ogeechee he saw them together in the woods.
He shot Cargill, but McGirth escaped, and the next day when
they went to bury the dead man it was found that the wolves had
almost devoured his body.
At another time the Tories fell on an unsuspecting settlement,
stole the settlers' horses, and carried away everything possible.
Headed by Captain Cone, the settlers pursued them down into
what is now Tatnall count}7. Finding after a shower of rain
THE CONE FAMILY 197
that they were close on their heels, they sent forward one of their
number to reconnoiter. The approach of this man became
known to the Tories through one of the stolen horses, and one
of their number, starting out to learn the cause of their con-
fusion, was shot dead by the scout, who was concealed behind a
log. This was the signal for an attack, and the patriots rushed
forward, drove the Tories into the Ohoopee river and recovered
their stolen goods. It is said that this raid broke the power of
the Tories in that community.
At the close of the Revolution, Captain Cone returned to the
pursuits of peace near Ivanhoe, and in 1796 was foreman of the
first grand jury raised in Bulloch county. He died in 1815,
about seventy years of age. It is a tradition in the Cone family
that three brothers of Capt. William Cone fell in battle during
the Revolutionary War, William being the sole survior of the
four brothers. He reared three sons and nine daughters. Of
his sons, Aaron Cone was the only one who remained in Bul-
loch county, and he was the father of six sons and six daughters.
Cone.
Gen. Peter Cone was the eldest child of Aaron Cone and
grandson of Capt. William Cone. His father, Aaron Cone,
was born October 31, 1766, before the family left ISTorth
Carolina. In 1788 he married Susan Mario w, and Peter Cone
was born at Ivanhoe, Bulloch county, on August 6, 1790. His
father was a wealthy man, owned large landed estates with many
slaves, and carried on extensive planting operations. He was
much esteemed in Bulloch county, a member of the Baptist
church, and died at Ivanhoe on June 6, 1835, being then nearly
sixty-nine years old. When the War of 1812 began, inheriting
the family trait, Peter Cone enlisted, became a captain, and was
stationed at Fort Sunbury. In 1818 he served under General
Andrew Jackson in his Florida campaign. At the outbreak of
the Civil War, Peter Cone was the senior major-general of the
militia of the State of Georgia. Early in the thirties he became
a member of the General Assembly, and remained in that body
198 MEN OF MARK
continuously for thirty years. It is said that this is the longest
continuous service by one man in the history of Georgia, lie
was a most influential man in his section of Georgia, and abso-
lutely dominated Bulloch county for thirty years. A notable
character in his day, he was held in much esteem by the public
men of that time and lived until the year 1866. He never
married.
OTtlltam Cone, tlje gounger.
When the break-up occurred in the family of Capt. William
Cone, the elder, after the Revolutionary War, Aaron remained
in Bulloch county. Joseph moved to Thomas county, and
William, junior, moved to Camden county. William, Jr., was
a very notable man. He represented Camden county for twenty-
three years in the Georgia legislature. He was born in 1777,
and when the War of 1812 broke out was a man of thirty-five, in
the prime of life. He inherited the reckless courage of the Cone
family and became a captain in that war. It is related that in
his infancy a body of Tories and British came to his father's
house seeking the elder Cone, cut open a feather bed upon which
the baby was resting, and poured baby and feathers out together,
and the little fellow was nearly suffocated before he was rescued.
«/
His military career in fighting the British, Indians and Span-
iards was even more notable than that of his father. In the War
of 1812 he served under General Kewnan on the St. Marv's and
*/
St. John's rivers. He was a participant in a campaign against
the Alachua Indians, engaging in a hand-to-hand fight with an
Indian at Alligator, killing his antagonist with clubbed musket
after he had exhausted his ammunition. Returning from this
expedition, they had to live on horse meat for quite a time. He
took part in the defeat of the British naval expedition on St.
Clary's river, and in the operations against St. Augustine so
incurred the hostility of the Spanish that they offered a reward
of ten thousand dollars for his head. One of the brilliant ex-
ploits of that war was his defeat of the British on the St. Mary's
in 1815. Twenty-three barges loaded with British soldiers as-
cended the river for the purpose of burning Major Clarke's
THE CONE FAMILY 199
mill. The enemy intended to land at a place called Camp
Pinckney and march to Clarke's mill on the Spanish creek some
three miles distant. Captain Cone with twenty-eight men was
concealed in the palmettoes which lined the river banks, and his
men being expert riflemen, opened fire on the barges. The
barges replied with cannon and small-arms fire, which was in-
effective. For several miles Captain Cone's men took advantage
of every turn of the river and at every shot brought down a man.
Finally the British unable longer to stand the fire, retraced
their course to St. Mary's. Upon their arrival at St. Mary's
they reported one hundred and eighty men killed and as many
wounded. Some time after the war Captain William Cone set-
tled in Florida and as late as 1842 represented Columbia county
in the Florida State senate. He died at Benton, Columbia
County, Fla., on August 24, 1857, and was buried at Prospect
church cemetery in Hamilton county. He was eighty years old
at the time of his death. He had married Sarah Haddock, in
Camden county, Ga., about 1815.
OTtlltam ilurrotos Cone.
Judge Wm. B. Cone was a grandson of the fiery old Tory-
hating captain, through the son who moved to Southwest Georgia.
His mother was a Wadsworth. The family settled in Dooly
county in 1832, and the father dying soon after, the lad became
the mainstay of his mother, who had the children to rear. In
1835, then just a man, he married Elizabeth Mobley and settled
down to farming. In a few years he became one of the leading
men of his county, which he represented in the legislature in
1847 and 1850, and there met his kinsmen, Judge Francis Cone
and General Peter Cone. Returning home from the General
Assembly, he was elected Judge of the Inferior Court of Dooly
county, which position he held continuously until the close of
the Civil war. After the war he lived in retirement at his
handsome country home until his death in 1877, leaving the
reputation of an honorabl, capable man and a pure patriot.
200 MEN OF MARK
Hater Generations;.
William Cone, the younger, left a family of sons who made
a remarkable military record. His oldest son, B. 1ST. Cone, was
itsaptain of a company during the Indian wars in Florida, a
daring and reckless officer. Another son, Capt. William H.
Cone, served as captain during the Seminole war in 1857 and
made the most important campaign and capture of Indians dur-
ing that war. Later he served as captain of a cavalry company
in the Confederate army. Another son, Peter Cone, was lieu-
tenant in the Indian Avar and served as first lieutenant in the
Confederate army. The fourth son, J. B. Cone, was considered
the most powerful man physically in the State of Florida. He
served in the Indian war of 1857 and was lieutenant of cavalry
in the Confederate army. The fifth and youngest son, C. F.
Cone, served as lieutenant in the Indian war of 1857 and was
captain of a cavalry company in the Confederate army. D. 1ST.
Cone, a son of Capt. B. N". Cone and a grandson of Capt. Wil-
liam Cone, served the entire four years as a member of the
Confederate army, and his son, Hutch I. Cone, entered the
United States navy and has shown such brilliant qualities that
he has risen by rapid steps to be chief of the Bureau of Engi-
neering, with the rank of rear-admiral. F. P. Cone, now a
member of the Florida State senate, is another grandson of
William Cone, Jr. T. J. Cone, now a prominent citizen of
Florida, is a descendant of the old Revolutionary captain through
the son who moved to Southwest Georgia, being grandson of
Judge Win. B. Cone.
Going back to Georgia, we find that Gen. Peter Cone had a
brother James. Col. J. S. Cone, son of James, and nephew of
Peter, entered the Confederate army in 1861 as a lieutenant,
later promoted to captain, and for distinguished bravery in the
battle of Chickamauga was, on the recommendation of Gen. John
C. Breckinridge, promoted to major. At John's Island, Colonel
Cone was the leader of the assault ; he commanded the fort at
Secessionville in the fall of 1864, and in the battle of Honey
Hill was badly wounded and promoted to lieutenant-colonel.
THE CONE FAMILY 201
His name appears on the Chickamauga monument, and Camp
1227, United Confederate Veterans, bears his name. From
1870 to 1875, Colonel Cone, following in the footsteps of his
distinguished uncle, served his district in the State senate of
Georgia. Depressed by the death of his devoted wife and busi-
ness losses, he withdrew from public life, and has since lived a
retired life in Bulloch county. His old regiment, the Forty-
seventh Georgia, bore the brunt of many a hard struggle. When
sent to the relief of Vicksburg, it mustered 1,100 men. Later
011, when sent to Charleston, Colonel Cone, then in command,
reported 150 muskets.
The record as above given shows that this family has been
represented numerously in all the struggles of our country from
the Revolutionary War down, and that in times of peace it has
had many strong members of the various legislative bodies. The
family record is indeed a remarkable one and worthy of preser-
vation in our annals for the great qualities shown — bravery,
patriotism, good business capacity, sound legislative judgment,
and unfailing loyalty to country.
BEKNAKD SUTTLEK.
iBtlltngton jUcCarter
BY THE Baptists of Georgia no name is more revered than
that of the Rev. B. McCarter Sanders, first president of
Mercer University. He was a native Georgian, bom in
Columbia county, December 2, 1789, son of Ephraim and ISTancy
Sanders. Both parents died before he was ten years of age, and
while their places could not be filled, he fell under the watchful
care of kind friends. His academic training was obtained at
the Kiokee Seminary, in Columbia county, and he attended the
State Colleges of both Georgia and South Carolina, graduating
at the latter December 4, 1809. For the first two years after
leaving colege he conducted the public academy in his native
pounty, and then for the next twenty years his attention was
given to farming. He was baptized into the Baptist church
by Abram Marshall in January, 1810, as a member of the Kio-
kee church. Later he joined the Union church in Warren
county and was there licensed to preach about 1823, and was
regularly ordained to the ministry in January, 1825. Without
giving up his farming interests, which were established 011 a
prosperous basis, he gave the next few years to active pastoral
work, and grew greatly in favor with the church. The Bap-
tists of Georgia had decided upon establishing an institution
of higher education. In casting around for a man of necessary
energy, business qualifications and piety to head this institu-
tion, by common consent they turned to Mr. Sanders. When
the call was made, notwithstanding it involved much sacrifice,
he gave up the comforts of his pleasant home, sacrificed largely
the value of his property, ;nid in January, 1823, established
himself in a log cabin in the vilage of Penfield. One of his
contemporaries, in speaking of his duties at that time, said that
he was "landlord, farmer, teacher, preacher, and financial
agent," that "two double log cabins with a garret to each were
compelled to suffice for dwelling, dining room and study for
himself, one assistant and thirty-seven students." His duties
BILLINGTON McCARTER SANDERS 203
were made more onerous by the fact that the institution was
then a manual labor school. He overcame all obstacles and suc-
ceeded. In a few years it was Mercer College, with Mr. San-
ders as president, and the enterprise being then established, and
no longer a doubtful experiment, in 1839 he resigned his posi-
tion as president. He did not by this act, however, resign all
interest in the enterprise, but was made a trustee, secretary of
the board, treasurer and chairman of the executive committee.
He gave all his spare time to the interests of the college, and
the Baptist historians of Georgia acknowledge that to him more
than to any other individual the church owes the establishment
of Mercer University. He spent fifteen years in pastoral work,
four at Shiloh, ten at Greensboro and one at Griffin. He was
moderator nine years of the Georgia Association, chairman of
the executive committee of the State Convention, and president
of the State Convention for six years. Several times he served
as delegate to the old Triennial Convention and to the Southern
Baptist Convention. For a time he was editor of the Chris-
tian Index, and for twenty-five years was a leader in his church
in Georgia. His contemporaries state that as a preacher he was
neither logical nor eloquent, but he was earnest, persuasive, un-
selfish and very successful in winning people over to his views.
He was a man of strong, good sense, great personal piety, won-
derful energy and sound business judgment. In his time no
man was more thoroughly loved by the people of Georgia than
Mr. Sanders.
He was twice married, first to Miss Martha Lamar, of Co-
lumbia, S. C., March 7, 1812. After her death he married on
February 25, 1824, Miss Cynthia Holliday. Nine children
were born of his first marriage, and thirteen of his second, a
total of twenty-two. Many of these children survived him. It
is said that much of his success in establishing Mercer was due
to the hearty cooperation of his second wife, whom the students
remembered with tender affection as "Old Mistress." He died
in Penfield, Ga., on March 12, 1852, in the sixty-third year of
his age, honored and lamented by a constituency as wide as the
State of Georgia. COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
fjelton Calmer
5HELTOX PALMEK SAXFO11D, LL.D., for more than
fifty years Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy in
Mercer University, was a Georgian, born at Greensboro,
January 25, 1816, son of ^7illcent Sanford. His parents were
natives of Loudoun county, Va., and came from that State to
Georgia in 1810, settling at Greensboro. His grandfather,
Jeremiah Sanford, was a neighbor and close friend of General
Washington and served under him as a soldier in the siege of
Yorktowu, in October, 1781. Professor Sanford's early edu-
cation was obtained in Greensboro, and being a studious boy
he made the most of his opportunities. His classical teacher
was chiefly Edwin Lawrence, a graduate of Middlebury College,
Vermont, who had come south to follow his vocation. In 1835
Professor Sanford entered the Freshman class of the State Uni-
versity at Athens, then under the presidency of Dr. Alonzo
Church. He was a hard student in all of his classes, the lan-
guages and mathematics being his favorite studies, a rather
peculiar combination, as it is a rare thing that a great mathema-
tician is fond of languages. Professor Charles F. McKay, a
most skillful teacher, and possessed of great learning, increased
Mr. Sanford's fondness for mathematics by his methods of in-
truction and special devotion to that branch of learning. In
1838 Professor Sanford graduated, sharing first honors with
B. M. Palmer, William Hope Hull and Isaiah Irwin, all of
whom became later eminent men, and Dr. Palmer, especially,
was the most prominent Presbyterian minister in the South.
Mr. Sanford's ability was recognized so early that three
months before his graduation he was elected tutor of mathe-
matics in Mercer University, then being organized. He en-
tered upon his duties the week following his graduation, when
only twenty-two years of age. Prior to his entrance upon col-
lege life he had kept books for a time for the firm of W. K.
SHELTON PALMER SANFORD 205
Cunningham and Company, and had thus acquired some knowl-
edge of business forms. One month after he entered upon his
work at Mercer he was offered a position in the Georgia Kail-
road Bank, a brilliant business opening, but conditional upon
his accepting it within ten days. As ]\Ir. Sanford had entered
into a contract with the trustees of Mercer not to leave without
giving six months' notice, he declined to violate this promise,
and thus put aside the business opportunity. This was really
the turning point in his career, for from that time until the day
of his death, more than fifty years later, he filled a position
at Mercer, being elected in 1840 Professor of Mathematics.
In the same year that he became professor, he married Miss
Mary F. Dickerman, with whom his long life was spent in
cheerful content. Of this marriage two children were born,
Charles V. Sanford, who became a resident of Conyers, Ga.,
and Anna M., who married the Eev. A. J. Cheves, of Macon,
Georgia.
Professor Sanford was something more than merely an ex-
cellent and correct teacher. His instructions were so full of
vivacity as to arrest and hold the attention of the students, mak-
ing abstruse mathematical principles not only interesting, but
clear as light, even to the most ordinary intellect. In recogni-
tion of his learning and ability, his University bestowed upon
him the degree of Doctor of Laws.
His reputation really rests not so much on his work in the
classroom as upon his work as an author. The series of arithme-
tics which he formulated and which were published by Lippin-
cott and Company, Philadelphia, have had an enormous circula-
tion, not only throughout the South, but in many parts of the
North. His "Higher Analytical Arithmetic" was published in
1870, and this was subsequently followed by the '"Primary,"
"Intermediate" and "Common School Arithmetics." Hundreds
of the best teachers in schools, academies, and colleges all over
the Union have testified that in their judgment Professor San-
ford's arithmetics are the best in the world. In 18Y9 he pub-
lished an ''Elementary Algebra," which secured a wide repu-
206 MEN OF MARK
tation and was adopted by the State Board of Education of
North Carolina almost immediately upon its issuance.
Professor Sanford had in an eminent degree the rare faculty
of the heaven-sent teacher. He knew how to impart his knowl-
edge with such clearness and in such an interesting manner that
his students could not help hut learn.
His whole lifelong he was a consistent and earnest member
of the Baptist church, serving for thirty years as Sunday School
superintendent at Penfield, where the University was first
located. He survived to be the last representative of the first
Board of Instruction appointed at the organization of the Uni-
versity in 1838, retaining to the last mental and bodily activity
and modernity of thought. He lived to see the little institu-
tion in the backwoods of Greene county grow into a great uni-
versity in the central city of the State.
He died on August 9, 1896, and is buried at Macon, near
the institution which he served so long and so faithfully and
loved so well.
A. B. CALDWBLL.
Cooper.
MARK ANTHONY COOPEE, who did so much to de-
velop the resources of Georgia, came of a numerous
family which had migrated from Virginia to Georgia.
He was born in Hancock county, Ga., near Powellton, on April
20, 1800, and died at Etowah, in Bartow county, in the eighty-
fifth year of his age. His father was Thomas Cooper, a son of
Thomas and Sallie Cooper. Sallie Cooper, grandmother of
Mark A. Cooper, was the oldest child of Joseph Anthony, a de-
scendant of Mark Anthony, who was a native of Holland. It
is worthy of note at this point that William Candler, the pro-
genitor of the distinguished Candler family in Georgia, mar-
ried Elizabeth Anthony, a younger sister of the Sallie Anthony,
who married Thomas Cooper. This Mark Anthony had a re-
markable career. His father was a native of Genoa, in Italy,
and being driven from that country for some reason — religious
persecution possibly being the cause — emigrated to Holland.
Influenced by the advantages of his native land, he sent his
young son Mark back to Italy to be educated. At the school,
being ill treated, he ran away to sea with a companion, and was
captured by Algerian pirates. The two young men were sold
as slaves, put in chains under guard and were set to cutting
wood. Being mercilessly treated they determined to escape,
and while the attention of the guard wandered for a moment,
they knocked him on the head with an axe, broke their chains,
and hid themselves in a wood. At night they boarded a Brit-
ish ship in the harbor and persuaded the captain to hide them
in a hogshead, on which he piled sacks of coffee. The Algeri-
ans searched the ships for the fugitives, but did not remove the
coffee sacks and failed to find the young men. When the ship
left the harbor, they were released and transferred to a ship
bound for Virginia, in which new country they decided to set-
tle. Mark Anthony prospered in Virginia and became the an-
208 MKN OF MARK
cestor of a numerous family in that State, which, by intermar-
riage with the Candlers and Coopers and others, now has de-
scendants all over the southern part of the Union, and has given
many distinguished men in the learned professions, in business
circles and to public life.
Thomas Cooper, the grandfather of Mark A., had eleven
children. One of his younger daughters, Penelope, was the
mother of Judge Eugenius A. jSFisbet. Thomas Cooper, the
second, father of Mark, married Judith Harvey, a daughter of
James and Sarah Harvey, and they reared a numerous family.
The Harveys, Coopers, Anthonys and Clarks were all from
Virginia, and settled in Wilkes and Hancock counties, Ga., most
of them near Powellton. Mark A. was one of three sons, two of
whom died in infancy. He had three sisters, of whom Harriet
married a ^isbet, Narcissa a Boykin, and Emma a Branham.
Mark went to school in Hancock county to John Denton, Dr.
David Cooper and Mark Andrews. Later he attended the
Mount Zion Academy, under the famous S. S. Beman and Ben-
jamin Gildersleeve. At the Powellton Academy he studied
under Iva Ingraham. He then went to Franklin College, at
Athens, but on account of the death of Dr. Eindley he went to
the South Carolina College, of which Dr. Maxey was president.
In 1819 he was graduated with the degree of A.B., and in a
class in which William Hance Taylor held first honor, C. G.
Memminger second honor, and Franklin H. Elman and Mark
A. Cooper third honor. Leaving college he entered the law
office of Judge Strong, in Eatonton, Ga., and was admitted to
the bar in 1821. He at once engaged in the practice at Eaton-
ton in partnership with James Clark. The bar of that town
at that time comprised some of the most brilliant lawyers in
Georgia history, including such men as Alfred Iverson, Mira-
beau Lamar, William H. Parks, Samson W. Harris, and others.
The elder lawyers at the bar of the circuit at that time in-
cluded a list of many of the most famous men of Georgia in the
antebellum period. There was no Supreme Court in the State,
no such great volumes of reports as are now at the service of
MARK ANTHONY COOPER 209
practicing lawyers, and they had to rely on the trial decision of
the courts then in existence. By attending every term of the
court and watching closely, Mark Cooper arrived at a thorough
knowledge of practice, with a correct understanding of law and
the ability to apply it properly. He reported for his own pleas-
ure the litigated cases until it made a volume in manuscript.
He was a close and hard student, and the young firm soon began
to make headway. They grew in influence and in the num-
ber of their clients, until in 1838 he was elected to Congress.
In the meantime he had inherited a small sum of money and
had put it out to interest, and this with the earnings of his
practice had accumulated a competency. He had tried plant-
ing, but found the lending of his capital brought more profit
and less trouble. Although he had made a success at the bar,
his business qualifications were so strong and his bent in that
direction so decided that about 1833 he organized a company
with fifty thousand dollars capital and built a cotton factory on
Little River, near Eatonton. He furnished the plan of the
building, superintended its construction and adjustment of the
water power. This was the first well-built water factory in
Georgia, except that of Mr. White, at Athens. By this time he
had decided to move to Columbus, Ga., and engage in banking.
He sold his stock in the cotton factory for par and interest, col-
lected the money due him and went to Columbus about 1835.
At Columbus he organized a banking company, with two hun-
dred thousand dollars cash capital, and began business as a
banker of discount and deposit. He declined to issue bills as
was customary at that time. Aided by a strong board of di-
rectors he managed this bank successfully over long years,
which included the panic of 1837. He and his brother-in-law,
Dr. Boykin, owned or controlled nearly all the stock, and all the
stockholders were personal friends. The bank was successful
and paid annual dividends of sixteen per cent. Back in 1831,
in connection with Charles P. Gordon, he had agitated the build-
ing of a railroad from Augusta to Eatonton. This was the
14
210 MKN OF MARK
first movement looking t<» lln> actual building of a road in Geor-
gia. In 1833 he served in the State Legislature with this
same Charles P. Gordon, and they obtained a charter supersed-
ing the one granted in 1831, and this charter with various
amendments, is now the charter of the Georgia Railroad and
Banking Company. It was drafted in 1833 by William Wil-
liams, of Eatonton, Ga., and under that charter the road was
built to Madison, Covington, Decatur, and to a place called
Marthasville, (now the city of Atlanta), with a branch to
Athens. From Atlanta, the State of Georgia, in the midst of
great opposition and trouble, built a road to Chattanooga, then
called Ross' Landing, on the Tennessee River. Mark A. Cooper
was a warm and zealous advocate of this measure. A great
celebration took place upon the completion of the road, in which
Mr. Cooper was a very prominent figure, and thus he had the
pleasure of seeing his dream of 1831 realized — a railroad from
Augusta to Chattanooga. Later on, with his own means, he
built a branch of this road to his works, at Etowah, and was a
prime factor in the building of the Cartersville and Van Wert
Railroad, afterwards extended to Cedartown, and called the
East and West Railroad.
By this time Major Cooper had come to be recognized as one
of the foremost developers of the State. About 1842 he bought
from Messrs. Stroup a half interest in the iron furnace on
Stamp creek, in Bartow county, with about thirteen hundred
acres of land. The old furnace was replaced with a new one
with ample facilities for the manufacture of pig iron and hol-
low ware. As the market for iron was in New York and the
price obtainable was not a profitable one for charcoal iron, they
built a rolling mill, at a cost of thirty thousand dollars, and
after that a nail factory with the necessary shops for both, and
a store with a full supply of goods, and houses for five hundred
\vork people. A stone mill, five stories high, with a capacity
of three hundred barrels of flour per day was erected, at a cost
of fifty thousand dollars, while the lands of the company were
increased until thev covered an area of twelve thousand acres.
MARK ANTHONY COOPER 211
L. M. Wiley, a native Georgian, then a resident of New York,
became interested with Cooper and Stroup. Mr. Stroup was
unable to pay his share of the improvements and Mr. Cooper
bought him out. Then it was found that the firm owed an im-
mense sum, for that day, one hundred thousand dollars, to Mr.
Wiley's New York house. Mr. Wiley insisted that Mr. Cooper
should buy the property on three years' time. He did so and
paid out the debt. He pushed the flour mill and made a success
of that, and for many years, notwithstanding difficulties, contin-
ued in the iron business, building a railroad four miles long to
connect with the W. and A., became a coal shipper, and in 1862,
after twenty years struggle, he sold the property for four hun-
dred and fifty thousand dollars, paid all, and had two hundred
thousand dollars left. This iron business was the great work
of his life, and in it he was a leader of unsual enterprise for
that period.
To go back a little, in 1836, there were troubles with the Semi-
nole Indians. Five companies of volunteers were organized at
Macon into a battalion, and Mark A. Cooper elected as major
and commanding officer. He took active part in the campaign
in Florida, the story of which being one of the most interest-
ing of his life, involving his facing General Scott in defense of
what he believed to be the rights of his men and carrying his
point because he convinced the general of the merits of his case.
When the Civil War broke out, he had a very notable interview
with President Davis on his way from Montgomery to Rich-
mond and gave him some advice, which in the light of later
events was prophetic. Three of Major Cooper's sons fought in
the first battle of Manassas, one a major, one a captain, and one
a lieutenant. One of them lost his life in that first struggle.
In an interview that he had with Mr. Mernminger, a former
classmate, and then secretary of the treasury for the Confeder-
acy, Mr. Cooper with his usual business foresight urged upon
Mr. Memniinger to base his Confederate currency upon cotton
by buying every bale of cotton in the Confederacy and valuing
the currency on it as a redeeming fund. It is clear now that
212 MEN OF MARK
if this advice had been taken the Confederate currency would
never have depreciated. Commenting on the war and its man-
agement years afterwards Major Cooper said, "The Confeder-
ate cause was lost, not for lack of men, as I think, but for want
of fidelity and faithfulness in the States that seceded ; not for
lack of money, but for lack of wisdom in the management of
its resources. As to the cause of war, it is chargeable not to
the abolition of slavery, which was only an incident and excit-
ing cause, but to the capital of the country seeking to control
the government through its indebtedness and to foster itself by
exemptions and immunities and by profits on the currencies
made and controlled by it. War alone could furnish a pretext
for doing what it desired." As to the future, he said: "As to
the hope for the Constitution and friends of a limited govern-
ment with definite delegated power and resumed rights in the
States, it depends on the full and absolute payment of the public
debt, so as to abolish all government credits." These brief quo-
tations give some idea of the scope of Mr. Cooper's mind as to
governmental matters. Whether in law, in business, or in poli-
tics, he was a man of the first rank. His first vote was cast
for Governor George M. Troup, the great apostle of State's
rights, and Major Cooper was all his life a State's right Demo-
crat of the strictest school. In his election to the Legislature
and to Congress, he was elected on that platform. As a result
of his convictions, lie, with E. J. Black and Walter T. Col-
quitt became involved in a controversy with the other six mem-
bers from Georgia and there was a very bitter split, as a result
of which Messrs. Black, Colquitt and Cooper, who had previ-
ously been elected as State's rights Whigs were next time elected
as State's rights Democrats. Major Cooper was then nomi-
nated for Governor against the Hon. G. WT. Crawford, but was
defeated, and after that took no part in political affairs, except
as a private citizen. He was active in all the great movements
for the development of his State for a period of more than
thirty years. He was the first president of the Georgia Agri-
cultural Society, greatly interested in the State fairs at which
MARK ANTHONY COOPER 213
his cattle frequently won premiums, was one of the early trus-
tees of the Mercer University, and later became a trustee of the
University of Georgia, a position which he held for nearly forty
years. As an example of his forecast, it may be mentioned that
at a meeting in the interest of Mercer University, held in Wash-
ington, Ga., presided over by the famous Jesse Mercer himself,
to consider the question of a locality for Mercer University,
Major Cooper advocated Whitehall, a village which stood where
the city of Atlanta now stands, and told them it would event-
ually became a populous center. The audience was profoundly
impressed with his argument, but seeing that Dr. Mercer had
his heart set on another location, he withdrew his suggestion in
deference to the venerable old man and the University was
finally located at Penfield and subsequently removed to Macon.
Major Cooper lived to see Whitehall succeeded by the city of
Atlanta, and the land he had pointed out for a site of the Mer-
cer University, which could then have been bought for a song,
worth more than a million dollars. All in all he was one of the
strong men in that growing period of Georgia embraced between
1830 and 1860, a capable lawyer, and a far-seeing statesman.
His greatest ability was as a developer and business man, and in
that his foresight was almost infallible, and before the end of
his own life he lived to see his judgment justified both in politi-
cal and business matters.
Major Cooper was twice married. August 23, 1821, he mar-
ried Mary Evalina Flournoy, who died in December of the
same year. On January 12, 1826 he married Sophronia A. R.
Handle, daughter of John and Susan Kandle. Her mother was
a Coffee, sister of General John Coffee. Of this marriage were
born three sons and seven daughters. Four of the daughters
died in infancy. Thomas L. and John Frederick Cooper fell
in battle during the Civil War. Mark Eugene Cooper served
through the war, and survived until December, 1907.
Thomas L. Cooper left three children, the late Dr. Hunter
P. Cooper, of Atlanta; Thomas L. Cooper, of Decatur, Ga., and
Mrs. Sallie Sanders, of Washington, Ga.
214 MEN OF MARK
John Frederick Cooper left three children: John Paul
Cooper, of Rome, Ga., Walter G. Cooper, of Atlanta, and Fred-
rrick Cooper, of Gainesville, Texas.
Mark Eugene Cooper never married.
Of the two surviving daughters, Volumnia A. married
Thomas P. Stovall, and Rosa L. Cooper is unmarried.
WALTER G. COOPER.
Walter G. Cooper, of Atlanta, is now and has been for years the able and
efficient Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, and like his grandfather, is
doing what he can for the betterment of Georgia. — EDITOR.
James Hamilton Couper.
JAMES HAMILTON COUPER never sought or held po-
litical office, but he was a leader of thought and the pioneer
in much of the industrial development of Georgia and the
South. The works that he did now live after him. He was
a highly educated and cultured gentleman. He was a large and
successful planter in Southern Georgia, managing his extensive
estates largely through personal supervision. His successes were
an inspiration to others, while the result of his experiments were
as much for the use of his neighbors and the benefit of the com-
mon public as for himself. He had large means, generous pub-
lic spirit, great energy and unusual executive force. All these
he gave to the State through the general results that came from
his efforts, in the success of his personal affairs. His contribu-
tions to the general sciences as well as his planting operations
in the cultivation of sugarcane, rice and cotton and the manu-
facture of oil from cotton seed, place him in the front rank
with the greatest men Georgia ever produced.
He collected, at great cost to himself, an immense library in
which almost every useful and valuable book was included.
There was scarcely a branch of knowledge in which he did not,
in some measure, excel. Sir Charles Lyell, F. R. S., after visit-
ing Mr. Couper's plantation, wrote concerning Mr. Couper's
library as follows:
"I found in the well stored library of Mr. Couper, Audu-
bon's Birds, Michaud's Eorest Trees and other costly works on
natural history ; also Cathcrwood's Antiquities of Central Amer-
ica, folio edition, in which the superior effect of the larger draw-
ings of the monuments of Indian architecture struck me much,
as compared to the reduced ones, given in Stephen's Central
America, by the same artist."
Miss Fredrika Bremer, the Swedish novelist, said of Mr.
Couper :
210 MEN OF MARK
is one of the most successful planters in the United
St ;iti's, and this created in me a desire to become acquainted
with him and his plantation. I found him to be a true repre-
sentative of the gentlemen of the Southern States — a very polite
man, possessing as much knowledge as an encyclopedia, and in-
teresting to me in a high degree through the wealth arid fasci-
nation of his conversation. In urbanity and grace of conversa-
tion, Mr. Couper reminds me of Ralph Waldo Emerson."
Mr. Couper was born at Sunbnry, Liberty county, in 17 '•'•'>.
He was not more than one year old when his father removed to
Glynn county, which county remained his home until his death
in 1867. He received a liberal education, graduating with first
honor from Yale University in a class of eighty-two members.
After graduation he traveled for some time in Europe and
while there made a careful and exhaustive study of the Holland
system of dikes. Upon his return to Georgia, he proceeded to
put the knowledge that he had thus acquired, into practical
operation on the plantations of his father in Glynn. The sys-
tem of diking and flood gates established by him proved most
efficient, with the result that during the forty or fifty years of
his management of Hopeton plantation such a thing as flooding
by freshet was entirely unknown. The system established by
Mr. Couper became the model not only for Glynn county but
planters from all along the seaboard of the South visited his
home for the purpose of studying and understanding and using
his system. Mr. Couper not only personally directed and su-
perintended the work on his own large plantations, but he had
the control and management of large plantations belonging to
others.
John Couper, the father of James Hamilton Couper, was
born at Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, Scotland, on the 9th of
March, 1759. He was the third son of the Rev. John Couper,
clergyman of that parish. His eldest brother, the Rev. James
Couper, was for more than a quarter of a century, Regius Pro-
fessor of Astronomy in the University of Glasgow. His sec-
ond brother, William Couper, a distinguished surgeon of that
JAMES HAMILTON COUPE R 217
city, was, with Mr. Tennant, the inventor of the chloride of
lime, which, as a bleaching material, has exerted a most im-
portant effect upon textile fabrics.
John Couper immigrated to Georgia at the age of 16, arriv-
ing in Savannah during the autumn of 1775. He subsequently
removed to Liberty county, where in 1792 he married a daugh-
ter of Col. James Maxwell. He later became a citizen of Glynn
county, and in 1798 he represented his county in the conven-
tion that framed the Constitution of Georgia. His influence
was successfully exerted against the Yazoo fraud, of which he
was an indignant opponent, and which, as a member of the Leg-
islature from Glynn county, he aided in defeating At an early
period he withdrew from politics and devoted the remainder of
a long life to the discharge of the duties of a private citizen.
His talents and character were probably more valuable to his
community in this way than if he had adopted a career of greater
notoriety but of less practical utility. For many years he was
one of the largest landed proprietors in the State.
James Hamilton Couper was a man of unusually methodical
habits. The exact system everywhere pursued by him was
largely responsible for the success that generally crowned his
efforts and made the management of the large estates committed
to his care, a comparatively easy task. He was a marvel of
exactness and knew with absolute certainty, at all times, what
each crop had cost him and exactly what it brought on the mar-
ket. He not only knew the profit to be made in planting, but
he knew the profit in each particular crop. The books he kept
are models of neatness and exactness, and some of them, now in
existence, are the admiration of all who have been permitted to
see them.
With the beginning of each planting season, he entered in his
books a complete map or diagram of his plantation, showing
the entire plantation laid off in squares, each one of which was
designated by a particular number or by a particular name.
The exact number of acres of land in each of these squares was
recorded and, in order to make the map more easy of reference,
218 MEN OF MARK
it was shaded with various colors, each color representing a
particular crop, so that a glance at the map would show how
arnny acres he had in each particular crop, and the exact loca-
tion of each crop on the plantation as compared with the other
crops.
Following this map was a complete statement of the number
of acres of each crop, the cost of that crop and the proceeds from
its sale. This was followed by observations upon the season
and a record of every incident of unusual character throughout
the year. The time of planting was recorded and also the time
of harvesting. These books contain a complete history of his
farming operations and, as far as they are in existence, they
furnish apparently absolutely reliable data of the methods and
results of his operations.
Mr. J. D. LeGare, editor of the Southern Agriculturist of
Charleston, S. C., was a guest of Mr. Couper, at Hopeton plan-
tation, in 1832. Speaking of his visit there he wrote as fol-
lows :
"We remained several days at Hopeton, enjoying the hospi-
tality of J. Hamilton Couper, Esq., during which time we were
busily employed in viewing the plantation and taking notes of
the things we saw and heard about.
"We hesitated not to say that Hopeton is decidedly the best
plantation we ever visited. We doubt whether it can be equaled,
certainly not surpassed, in the Southern States. When we con-
sider the extent of the operations, the variety of crops cultivated
and the number of operatives to be directed and managed, it
will not be presumptive to say that it may fairly challenge com-
parison with any establishment in the United States, whether
\ve consider the systematic arrangement of the whole, the regu-
larity and precision with which each and all of the operations
are conducted or the perfect and daily accountability established
in every department.
"All the crops have been harvested except the cane, and we
had the pleasure of seeing all the operations connected with this
valuable crop, from the stripping of the cane to the final prepa-
ration for market.
JAMES HAMILTON COUPER 219
"The proportion of the various crops we found to be 500
acres in rice; 170 acres in cotton and 330 acres in cane."
Mr. Couper was one of the pioneers of Georgia in the exten-
sive cultivation of cane. He carried its cultivation and its
manufacture to a higher state than it has been carried since
that day. At one period he planted more than 700 acres in
cane. In 1829 he erected on Hopeton plantation the most com-
plete sugar mill to be found anywhere within the Southern
States.
So far as Mr. Couper's books of accounts disclose, he con-
verted all of his sugar cane into sugar and molasses. There is
no record left by him indicating that he ever put his crop of
cane or any part of it into syrup.
According to the last census of the United States, the State
of Georgia in 1899 was the fourth State in the production of
sugar, and produced that year, from sugar cane, 226,730 pounds
of sugar.
In 1831 Mr. Couper alone produced 166,061 pounds, show-
ing to how much greater extent the making of sugar at that time
was carried than it is now.
Mr. Couper was ever alert to the necessity of diversifying
his crops. He made many experiments with new and untried
plants. His father, John Couper, who was a contemporary
of Thomas Jefferson, and on intimate terms with him, experi-
mented during his life, in a limited way, with the growth of
olive trees. The first plants that he set out were obtained for
him from France by Mr. Jefferson.
Mr. James Hamilton Couper, in later years, pursued the
cultivation of the olive with his usual energy and demonstrated
that olives could be successfully grown on St. Simon's Island.
The two hundred trees brought from France, through Mr.
Jefferson's aid, were planted on St. Simon's Island. They
were five months in transportation and yet very few of them
died. This orchard is now one of the most interesting relics
left on the old plantation. The experiment has, beyond doubt,
demonstrated the perfect adaptability of the soil and climate
220 MEN OF MARK
of the Georgia seacoast islands to the successful culture and
growth of the olive. With the slight exception of a few trees
at Dungeness, on Cumberland Island, and at the village place,
on St. Simons, this is the only olive orchard east of the orchards
in California. Olives would do well on the coast of Georgia
under skillful culture.
While Mr. Couper was thus extensively engaged with experi-
ments iu the cultivation of sugar cane and cotton and rice and
olives and other crops; and wrhile engaged in the pursuit and
the enjoyment of literary and scientific subjects, his active
mind was ever awake to seize upon any idea that occurred to
him, or was suggested by others, looking to the improvement
or the increased prosperity of the people and the State.
The one thing in his long life that stamps him with far-
seeing wisdom, was his faith and belief in the ultimate value of
cotton seed. He was really the pioneer in the matter of extract-
ing oil from cotton seed.
Since his day this industry has reached great proportions.
In the census of 1900, it is stated that cotton seed was garbage
in 1860; a fertilizer in 1870; a cattle food in 1880, and a table
food and many things else in 1900. It is also stated that as late
as 1870, only four per cent of the seed produced were utilized
in the oil business, bv.t that in 1890 this had increased to twenty-
five per cent, and in 1900 to fifty-three per cent. It is further
stated that in 1899 the value of the entire crop of cotton seed
was thirteen pnd eight -tenths per cent of the total value of the
cotton crop, Including the value of the seed, while the value of
the produces in the manufacture of all the seed produced would
have been twenty and four-tenths per cent of the total value of
the cotton crop.
This same census also makes the statement that the first cot-
ton seed oil mill was established in 1837. In contradistinction
to this statement, it is a matter of record in Mr. Couper's pa-
pers, now preserved, that he began the manufacture of oil from
cotton seed in the fall of 1834. At that time he had two mills,
one at Mobile, Ala., and the other at Natchez, Miss. He pro-
JAMES HAMILTON COUPE R 221
duced an oil that sold at one dollar per gallon, as fast as it could
be made; for the cake he received fifty cents per one hundred
pounds.
The enterprise demanded larger capital than Mr. Couper
could control and he was compelled to abandon it under serious
loss to himself, but time has long since vindicated his faith in
cotton seed oil and his wisdom in undertaking its production.
Writing in February, 1836, he says:
"Planters show a perfect indifference about saving the seed
and without an ample supply the business can not succeed."
Xotwithstanding the weighty responsibilities resting upon
Mr. Couper, he found ample time to cultivate his literary and
scientific tastes, and became prominent in the field of science
and letters. His correspondence was solicited by alomst all of
the learned societies in this country and by many in Europe.
He became the leading conchologist of the South, and his re-
searches into the then new field of germ life attracted atten-
tion to him as a microscopist in the laboratories of various uni-
versities.
In June 30, 1845, he was made a member of the American
Ethnological Society.
It is claimed for him that if he did not actually lay the
foundation for the present magnificent museum now in Wash-
ington, that he contributed materially thereto by the donation
of a splendid collection of fossils at the very beginning of its
foundation. He contributed likewise to the splendid museum
in Philadelphia.
In September, 1861, Mr. Couper presented his large collec-
tion of fossils and valuable specimens of Xatural History to the
College of Charleston, S. C. In acknowledgment of this splen-
did gift the Board of Trustees of the college wrote Mr. Couper,
in part, as follows :
"In obedience to the unanimous directions of the Board of
Trustees of the College of Charleston, we, the undersigned mem-
bers of that body, very respectfully wait on you with the accom-
panying copy of the report and resolutions adopted by them and
222 MEN OF MARK
published in our newspapers, on the official announcement to
them of the invaluable gift made by you to our institution."
"Most deeply do we thank you, Sir, for having chosen our
seminary as the depository of your collections. We shall en-
deavor to be true to your trust and to extend and perpetuate
their utility and the honored name of the generous donor."
Notwithstanding Mr. Couper's aversion to the secession of
the South, when that secession came he was loyal to his sec-
t/
tion and the people. Five of his sons enlisted in the army of
the Confederacy and two of them gave their lives to the cause
of the South.
Indifferent to the temporary power of office, its allurements
and applause, and without display or ostentation, he followed
the life of thought and of action that he had planned for him-
self, illustrating, in the highest degree, the best type of that
bulwark of our civilization — the private citizen of America.
W. J.
JSuncan <§. Campbell.
COLOXEL DUXCAX G. CAMPBELL, one of the build-
ers of Georgia in the first half of the nineteenth century,
was born in Xorth Carolina on the seventeenth day of
February, 1787. He died on the thirty-first clay of July, 1828,
in the forty-second year of his age. Cut off as it were prema-
turely, he yet had accomplished much good work and made such
an impression upon the people of his State that when a new
county was organized after his death in the northern section,
it was named in his honor, and is now a very prosperous sec-
tion of the State. Colonel Campbell was educated at Chapel
Hill University, X. C., and graduated in 1806. In 1807 he
came to Georgia and studied law under Judge Griffin, of AYilkes
county, and while studying law made his expenses as principal
of a female academy. He was duly admitted to the bar, and
Judge Griffin, his preceptor, being compelled by ill health to
resign his practice, transferred it to Mr. Campbell, who thus
had the advantage of a good start early in his practice.
In 1816, not yet thirty years of age, he was elected solicitor-
general of the western circuit. At the expiration of his term
as solicitor-general he was elected a representative in the Legis-
lature from Wilkes county. His services were so satisfactory
that he was re-elected for the three succeeding years. He had
in the meantime formed a professional connection with Garnett
Andrews, who took care of the practice for the firm while Mr.
Campbell was rendering public service. "While in the Legis-
lature he had the honor of being the first man in Georgia to in-
troduce a bill for the education of females. He was not suc-
cessful in winning the other legislators to his views, but he
opened up the way for more successful efforts in future years.
He was an industrious man of liberal views, very watchful
of the public interests, and though not of the highest order of
ability, always discharged with fidelity and care every duty
which devolved upon him. On the sixteenth of July, 1824,
224 MEN OF MARK
Colonel Campbell was appointed in connection with Major
James Meriwether, a son of the old Revolutionary hero, Gen.
David Meriwether, as commissioner to secure a treaty with the
Creek Indians for the sale of their lands in Georgia and Ala-
bama. Our space will not permit an account of this tedious
and troublesome matter. It is sufficient to say that the record
of the times shows an immense volume of correspondence, many
bickerings and heartburnings, and finally an effort in Washing-
ton to set aside a treaty made by the commissioners, which failed.
The Legislature of Georgia voted him the confidence and grati-
tude of the people of the State and the authorities proceeded to
survey and distribute the land in the treaty negotiated. Thus
in the minds of the people nearest to the scene of action, he was
entirely exonerated from any neglect of duty in the matter and
upheld, notwithstanding the efforts at Washington to do him
injustice.
Of his private life little at this time can be learned. He
married Miss Williamson, daughter of Col. Micajah William-
son, a Revolutionary hero, and whose sister married Governor
John Clark, and whose brother was Col. William W. William-
sun, a prominent man of that day. His son, Justice John Camp-
bell, of the Supreme Court of the United States, became first a
leader at the bar in Alabama, and later one of those able asso-
ciate justices who have made the Supreme Court of the United
States so justly famous. Governor Gilmer, who knew Colonel
Campbell intimately, in speaking of him in his "Memoirs,"
makes this statement. "Colonel Campbell had none of the rowdy
habits of the North Carolina Wilkes county settlers. He avoided
violence, and was courteous and kind to everybody. Though
his talents were not of the highest order, nor his public speaking
what might be called eloquent, he was among the most successful
lawyers at the bar and useful members of the Legislature. He
was very industrious and ever ready to do the part of a good
citizen. The amenity of his temper was constantly shown in
the delight which he derived from pleasing the young. His
house continued as long as he lived to be one of their favorite
resorts."
DUNCAN G. CAMPBELL. 225
One of his daughters, Sarah, was of remarkable precocity in
childhood and became a woman* of very superior attainments.
She married Daniel Chandler, who moved to Alabama and be-
came a distinguished lawyer. Another daughter married David
B. Butler, of Macon, Ga. Governor Gilmer's "Memoirs" above
referred to are noted for their plain speaking, and his judg-
ment of Colonel Campbell may be taken as an entirely conserva-
tive view. He seldom overrated anyone. The unqualified en-
dorsement of Colonel Campbell and his fellow commissioner,
Major Meriwether, by the Legislature in 1825, and their action
in naming the county for him after his death in 1828 is ample
evidence that he was equal to the discharge of the most import-
ant public duties, and that such duties were discharged with
fidelity entirely satisfactory to the people of the State. It can-
not be doubted that had he lived a few years longer even higher
honors would have come to him.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
15
James proctor H>crefaen.
R. JAMKS P. SCEEVEX, physician, 1)lanter, railroad
president, and developer, was one of the strongest men
of Georgia in the first half of the last century. He carne
of a family noted in the annals of the State. His uncle, Gen.
James Screven, a gallant Revolutionary soldier, fell in that
struggle. The Screven family in America goes back to the Rev.
William Screven, who settled at Kittery, Me., in 1640, and on
account of religious persecutions on the part of the Puritans
moved to Charleston when that town was founded, and estab-
lished the first Baptist church in South Carolina. On the ma-
ternal side, Dr. Screven, was descended from Thomas Smith,
landgrave under patent of May 13, 1691, and Governor of
South Carolina. James P. Screven was born in Bluffton,
S. C., October 11, 1799, and died in Savannah, Ga., July 16,
1859. In his sixty years of life he rendered immense service
to the State of Georgia. As a youth he attended the Chatham
Academy, at Savannah, and from there went to the celebrated
school conducted by the Rev. Dr. Moses Waddell, near Abbe-
ville, S. C. He then entered the Columbia (S. C.) College,
and was graduated in the classics in 1817. Returning to Sa-
vannah he studied medicine for a time under Dr. William War-
ing, and then went to the famous old school in Philadelphia, the
Jefferson Medical College, by which he was graduated in 1820,
with the degree of M.D. Desiring to perfect himself further
in his chosen profession, he went to Europe, stayed a few
months in London and other months in Paris in further medical
studies, and after traveling for over a year in Italy and Swit-
zerland, returned in 1822 to Savannah and began the practice
of his profession.
He speedily gained recognition in his profession and was
made health officer of the city. His public qualities were rec-
ognized by his election to the office of alderman. The owner
JAMES P. SCREVEN 227
of large landed estates which were being extensively farmed and
required much attention, in 1835 he retired from the practice
of his profession and confined himself to looking after his agri-
cultural interests, spending his time upon the land and making
his home there. After a few years, he again moved his resi-
dence to Savannah, but did not resume the practice of medicine.
In 1849 he was again eletced alderman, and was acting mayor
when the yellow fever epidemic prevailed, in which every mem-
ber of the city council, except Dr. Screven and one other, were
stricken with the disease. In 1855 he was elected to the State
Senate, and rendered satisfactory services to his constituents.
In 1856 he was elected mayor of Savannah. In the meantime
he had been made president of the Savannah, Albany and Gulf
and the Atlantic and Gulf Railroads. This was the pioneer
day of the railroads in Georgia, and these lines of which Dr.
Screven had been made president were commenced and almost
completed under his administration. They were later consoli-
dated under the name of the Atlantic and Gulf, and still later
were known as the Savannah, Florida and Western. This was
one of the earliest lines in the southern half of the State and was
of immense service in the development of that section.
Dr. Screven was a man of both an acute and comprehensive
intellect. His contemporaries bear witness that he was cool,
resolute, sagacious and deterred by no obstacles, and was at any
time willing to put in superhuman labor to achieve his purpose.
In the difficulties of railroad enterprises in those early days, all
of his mental and physical resources were frequently taxed to
the limit. Notwithstanding the abundance of his labors, he
gave many years of service as captain of the volunteer company
in Savannah, one of the oldest military organizations in our
country.
His home, an old colonial residence in Savannah, built be-
fore 1800, was situated on the ground where the first colonial
assembly had held its meetings and was a house of great in-
terest. In 1826 he married Hannah Georgia Bryan, a daugh-
ter of Joseph Bryan, congressman of that day, and a grand-
228 UKN OF MARK
daughter of Jonathan Bryan, the Revolutionary patriot, for
whom Bryan county was named. John Screven, son of Dr.
Screven, succeded him in his office as president of the rail-
road, as legislator and as mayor. The similarity in the career
of the two men being very marked, the son inheriting many of
the strong qualities of the father. In Savannah, Dr. Screven
was much esteemed by the citizens, because of his public spirit.
In many ways he was looked upon as a benefactor and he left
upon the State a strong impress, altogether for good.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
nil
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George Walker Cratofork
IN THE first half of the nineteenth century the Crawford
family of Georgia cut a large figure, both in the State and
the Union. William Harris Crawford, prominent for many
years in our public life, came within a few votes of being elected
president of the United States. Major Joel Crawford was a
soldier, lawyer, planter, and member of Congress. Judge Mar-
tin J. Crawford was an able jurist and a Congressman. Last,
but not least, among these notable men was George Walker
Crawford, lawyer, congressman, cabinet officer, and governor.
George Walker Crawford was born in Columbia county, Ga.,
on December 22, 1798, the son of Peter and Mary, and a second
cousin of William H. Crawford. The family in America is
supposed to have been founded by John Crawford of Lanark
county, Scotland, who was the son of an Earl Crawford, who
came to Virginia, lived near the James River, and was supposed
to have lost his life during what is known as Bacon's Rebellion,
in Virginia. From him came in direct succession three genera-
tions of David Crawfords. From the last David the Crawfords
in Georgia were descended. The mother of William Wallace,
of Scotland, was a Crawford of Lanark, and the Crawford fam-
ily have always been justly proud of this connection with one
of the finest characters in the history of the world.
The first immigrant to Georgia was Joel, the father of Wil-
liam H. Crawford, who was a prominent man in the home State
and served as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses.
Lie located first in South Carolina, and later in Columbia
county, Ga. His daughter Ann was the mother of Nathan
Crawford Barnett, secretary of state under eleven governors of
Georgia.
Next came Peter Crawford, father of George Walker Craw-
ford. Peter was the son of John Crawford and married his
first cousin, Mary Crawford, daughter of Charles Crawford,
230 MEN OF MARK
Captain in the United States regular service in the war of
1812. Major Joel Crawford, who fought under General Floyd
in the Creek War, was son of Charles Crawford, and uncle of
George Walker Crawford. Xathan Crawford, M.D., the first
physician to place a silver plate on a broken skull, was also the
son of Charles Crawford ; he lived on Kiokee Creek, Columbia
county, where his grandsons, Remsen and Dr. William B. Craw-
ford now live. His great-grandson, Charles Culberson, of
Texas, has been prominent as Governor, Congressman and
Senator.
Ex-Judge Martin J. Crawford, of Columbus, Georgia, was a
descendent of Michael Crawford, brother of the David Craw-
ford from whom William H. and George Walker Crawford de-
scended.
George Walker Crawford was a graduate at Princeton Col-
lege, New Jersey, in 1820, and on his return to Georgia, be-
came a law student in the office of Hon. Richard Henry Wilde
in Augusta, and was admitted to the practice of law in IS -2 -2.
Five years after his admission to the Bar, he was elected Attor-
ney-General of the State, which office he retained until 1831.
This distinguished Georgian represented Richmond county for
several successive years in the State Legislature, having been
first elected in 1837, and continuing with the exception of one
year to represent the county until 1842. In 1843 he was elected
a representative to Congress, but the same year was nominated
by the Whig Convention as their candidate for Governor, and
was elected by a large majority. Yielding the honors of a posi-
tion in the Councils of the Xation, he gave his undivided ser-
vices to his native State as her chosen Chief Magistrate; his
administration of State affairs giving such universal satisfac-
tion, that he was re-elected in 1845. In 1849, Governor Craw-
ford was appointed Secretary of War in President Taylor's
Cabinet, which position he held until the death of the Presi-
dent, when he resigned. Returning to his beloved State, which
had so repeatedly honored him with the meed of her highest
confidence, he sought the quiet of a life retired from political
AUSTIN DABNEY 233
tlemen backers. The United States granted him a pension on
account of his broken thigh, and his military services. In the
distribution of public lands by lottery among the people of
Georgia, the Legislature gave to Dabney a lot of land in Wal-
ton county. Stephen Upson, then representative from Ogle-
thorpe, moved the passage of the law. The preamble was as
follows : "Whereas, by an act of the General Assembly of the
State of Georgia, passed on the fourteenth day of August, 1786,
it is stated that the said Austin Dabney during the Revolution,
instead of advantaging himself of the terms to withdraw him-
self from the American lines and enter with the majority of
his colour and fellow-slaves in the service of his Britannic
Majesty and his officers and vassals, did voluntarily enroll him-
self in some one of corps under the command of Col. Elijah
Clarke, and in several actions and engagements behaved against
the enemy with a bravery and fortitude which would have hon-
oured a freeman, and in one of which engagements he was
severely wounded, and rendered incapable of hard servitude;
and policy and gratitude demand a return for such service and
behaviour, from the Commonwealth; and it was further stated
in said act that said Austin should be entitled to the annuity
allowed by this State to wounded and disabled soldiers; and
the said Austin having petitioned the Legislature for some aid
in his declining years; and this body considering him an object
entitled to the attention and gratitude of the State." The action
of the Legislature in granting this land to Dabney highly in-
censed some of the people of Madison, and there was a fierce
struggle in the next election between the Dabney and anti-Dab-
ney party, but the law stood. Dabney then removed to the
lands given him by the State, still carrying with him the Harris
family and continuing to labor for them, appropriating every-
thing he made for their support, except necessary coarse cloth-
ing and food. He sent the eldest son of Mr. Harris to Frank-
lin College, and afterwards maintained him while he studied
law under Judge Upson, in Lexington. When Harris stood his
legal examination in open court, Austin stood outside of the
234 MEN OF MARK
bar with great anxiety on his countenance, and when Harris was
sworn in he burst into tears. Upon his death, he left the Har-
ris family his entire property. During his life, it is said that
he was one of the best chroniclers of the events of the war period
in Georgia. Judge Dooly, under whose father, Col. John
Dooly, he had served, esteemed him highly, and it was one of
Dabney's customs that when the Judge was attending court in
Madison to take great care of his horse. He drew his pension
in Savannah, where he went once a year for this purpose. On
one occasion he went in company with his neighbor, Col. Wyley
Pope. They traveled together on the best of terms until they
arrived at Savannah. Then the Colonel observed to Austin
that he was a man of sense and knew it was not suitable for
them to be seen riding side by side through the streets of Savan-
nah. Austin replied that he understood the matter and dropped
back behind the Colonel. They had not gone far before Colonel
Pope passed by the house of General James Jackson, who was
then Governor of the State. Upon looking back he saw the
Governor run out of the house, seize Austin's hand as if he had
been his long-lost brother, draw him off of the horse, and carry
him into the house, where he kept him while he was in town
and treated him with marked kindness. Colonel Pope used to
tell this anecdote with much glee, adding that he felt chagrined
when he ascertained that while he passed his time at a public
house unknown and uncared for, Austin was the honored guest
of the Governor. The preamble to the act passed by the Legis-
lature so well expresses the character of this humble patriot
that it is not necessary to make comment upon it.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
lUfreb Cutijfeert.
ALFRED CUTHBERT, lawyer, state legislator, con-
gressman, and United States Senator, was a native of
Georgia, born at Savannah in 1786. His father was
Col. Seth John Cnthbert, a Revolutionary officer. His mater-
nal grandfather was Joseph Clay, all of whose descendants for
several generations seemed to inherit some measure of their
distinguished ancestor's ability. John A. Cuthbert, also a dis-
tinguished man of the day, equally prominent with Alfred Cuth-
bert, was his younger brother. Alfred Cuthbert graduated at
Princeton College in 1803 and began the practice of law in
Monticello, Jasper county, in that same year. He was elected
to the State Legislature, and when Dr. W. W. Bibb, then a
congressman, was appointed United States Senator, Mr. Cuth-
bert was elected to fill out his unexpired term in the thirteenth
Congress as a Democrat. He was re-elected to the fourteenth
Congress, serving the major part of his term, but resigning in
18 1G. He appeared again as a member of the seventeenth
Congress, in 1821, and was re-elected to the eighteenth and
nineteenth Congresses, serving at that time six years, until 1827.
When John Forsyth, United States Senator from Georgia, was
appointed Secretary of State by President Jackson, in 1834, he
resigned from the Senate, and Mr. Cuthbert was elected to fill
the vacancy. He was re-elected then for the full term, and
served from January 12, 1835, to March 3, 1843. He did not
take further part in public life, but died near Mouticello on
July 9, 1856. Both Alfred Cuthbert and John A. Cuthbert
were recognized as among the leading men of the State in their
day. They were strong lawyers, sound legislators, and Alfred
Cuthbert was accounted a strong member of the United States
Senate.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
>eat>orn Jones.
'OXORABLE SEABORX JOXES, lawyer and legisla-
tor, was born in Augusta, Richmond county, Georgia,
February 1, 1788, and died in Columbus, Muscogee
county, Georgia, March 18, 1864.
He entered Princeton but was obliged to leave before gradu-
ating on account of the lailure of his father in business. He
then studied law and was admitted to the bar by special act of
the Legislature in 1808 (being only twenty years old.) He
became Solicitor-General of Georgia in 1817 and was afterward
elected to Congress as a Democrat, serving from 1833 to 1835,
and again from 1845 to 1847. Among his treasures was a cane
made from the timber of the frigate "Constitution," presented
to him by his friend Commodore Isaac Hull. (Appleton's En-
cyclopedia of American Biag. p. 470-471.)
When a very young man lie went to Milledgeville, Baldwin
county, Georgia, then the capital of the State, and became a very
successful and distinguished member of the bar of the Ocmulgee
Circuit. White's Historical Collections of Georgia, speaking
of prominent men who have resided in Baldwin county, men-
tions "Seaborn Jones, now of Columbus, acknowledged to be
one of the best lawyers in Georgia."
In 1825 he was appointed by Governor George M. Troup,
with Warren Jordan, William II. Torrauce, and William W.
Williamson, commissioner to investigate the conduct of the
Indian Agent, John Cromwell, and the disturbances in the
Creek Xation. (Bench and Bar of Georgia, Vol. 1, p. 131.)
In regard to this Indian business: In 1831 Eli S. Shorter
and Seaborn Jones published a strong letter in the Philadelphia
Gazette, dated October 10, 1831, in defense of Georgia's course
during the Indian troubles and in regard to the case of the Mis-
sionaries who lived among these Indians and were not obeying
the State laws, which was very favorably commented on by the
SEABORN JONES 239
and some of them reading the regular toasts prepared by the
Committee of Arrangements. The band of music was in the
oblong square formed by the tables and played whenever Colonel
Jones waved his hand as a signal.
The author was within seeing and hearing distance of the
General ; George Washington Lafayette, son of the General, was
pointed out, his bald head and the wig of his father gave the
latter the advantage in youthful appearance ; Colonel Lavousier
the author could not identify. There was quite an array of
public characters, men known in the history of Georgia, among
them General John Clark, formerly Governor of Georgia.
The appetite being satisfied with strong meat, next came the
wine, bottles of which with wine glasses were distributed on the
tables so that every one could have a share. Then proclamation
was made by Colonel Jones, "Gentlemen, fill your glasses for a
toast from General Lafayette." ISTot a growl was heard, not a
frown seen at this command ; like good soldiers every man did
his duty. "The Apostle of Liberty," the companion and
bosom friend of Washington, rose to his feet and in broken Eng-
lish which all heard with delight, he gave, "The Georgia Volun-
teers, the worthy sons of my Revolutionary brethren." Cheer
after cheer resounded, the music struck up "Hail to the Chief,"
the cannon uttered its loud rejoicing, and soon all was quiet
again. "Prepare for a toast from Governor Troup," was the
next order, with solemn, distinct, enunciation that Julius Ca3sar
of a Chief Magistrate gave forth, "A union of all hearts to
honour the Nation's Guest,' a union of all heads for our coun-
try's good," again the air was rent with cheers, the band played
a national march, and the cannon fairly jarred the square.
The next order was "Prepare for a toast from General
Clark." Until then the author had never seen this celebrated
leader of a party. A tall, bony man with an open, honest face
rose at the table and with a shrill voice gave "Count Pulaski,
the gallant Frenchman who fell at Savannah," we all emptied
our glasses in honor of General Clark and his French Count as
though history had not been contradicted by the sentiment.
240 MEN OF MARK
General Lafayette must have esteemed it a special compliment
t«i himself for such renown to be transferred to his own country
in the presence of such a multitude of witnesses, whether the
mistake was accidental or otherwise it did not detract in the
smallest degree from the valor or integrity of General Clark.
At most it only signified that his youth was spent in fighting the
battles of his country instead of being enervated within the
walls of a college.
It should be remembered that before the military retired from
the square they were formed into line and General Lafayette
leaning on the arm of Governor Troup walked along, a little
lanie, and shook hands with every man, officer and private,
Colonel Jones officiating in the introduction. The author was
mentioned to him as Sergeant M- - and the response was
"Sergeant M- — , I am very glad to see you." This joy was
expressed to all, and was more than reciprocated by all the vol-
unteers. The hand of General Lafayette had been grasped —
that was glory enough then. It is still a pleasant remembrance,
but thirty years' hardships in the camp of life have rather
tended to prove, to the author at least, that glory is not com-
municated in so easy ainl simple a manner. (Bench and Bar
of Georgia, Vol. 2, p. 249-250.)
Colonel Seaborn Jones was the son of Lieutenant Abraham
Jones, 2nd Georgia Regiment Revolutionary Army, who was
also a Commissioner of Confiscation and Amercement after the
Revolution and delegate to the Convention at Louisville, the then
capital, which adopted the Constitution in 1798, and Sarah
Bugg, the daughter of Captain Sherwood Bugg, of the Legion-
ary Corps and his wife, Elizabeth Hobson, also a Revolutionary
character. He married Mary Howard, the daughter of John
Howard and Jane Vivien, his wife. They were the parents of
six children — an infant son, who only lived a few hours ; Sarah
Jane Jones, Mary Howard Jones, Eliza Ann Jones, John Abra-
ham Jones, Seaborn Jones. Only two lived to be grown, Col.
John A. Jones, C. S. A., who married Mary Louisa Leonard,
and Mary Howard Jones, who married Brigadier-General
SEABORN JONES. 241
Henry L. Benning, C. S. A., at one time Judge of the Supreme
Court of Georgia.
Colonel Seaborn Jones and his wife were of Southern lineage
exclusively, his ancestry being mostly Virginian through his
father, Abrani Jones, from Abram Jones, the emigrant from
Wales, his son, Major Peter Jones, a noted Indian fighter and
wealthy planter of Prince George County, who discovered the
method of curing tobacco by heat in barns, whence the soubri-
quet, "Sweat House Peter," his son Peter, his father-in-law,
Major-General Abraham Wood, one of the very earliest settlers
of that section, member of Royal Council, 1637, House of Bur-
gesses repeatedly from Henrico and counties cut off from it.
Peter, son of Major Peter Jones, accompanied Col. William
Byrd when he ran the dividing line between Virginia and !North
Carolina. Petersburg was named for Major Peter, and his
numerous kinsmen and progeny, named Peter. He owned the
site of Petersburg, through his mother, Sarah Bugg, from the
Lyddall, Bacon, Bugg, and Hobson families of ^ew Kent, Hen-
rico and Lunenburg counties. His wife, Mary Howard, was of
Maryland and Virginia ancestry — Howard from Maryland,
Smith from Virginia and the Carolinas, and Jane Vivien, her
mother's ancestors were the Viviens, Thackers, Brooks, Conways,
Walkers, among the earliest settlers of Richmond, Middlesex,
and Lancaster counties.
Col. Seaborn Jones was named for his uncle, Hon. Seaborn
Jones, of Augusta, Georgia, a lawyer, the first Speaker of the
House of Assembly, 1789, under the new Constitution, and whose
grandmother was a Miss Seaborn, supposed to be of ISTorth
Carolina. His parents were Abraham and Martha Jones, who
were originally from Bristol, England, who went from Vir-
ginia to jSTorth Carolina, thence to Florida, about Jacksonville,
about 1759. He returned to Virginia on business and died on
the trip. Then before the Revolution his widow, with her seven
sons, John, Abram, James, Batte, Seaborn, William, Thomas,
and daughter, Sarah Ann, came to Georgia and settled in Burke
county, near Augusta, where William and Henry Jones, her
16
.-
242 MEN OF MARK
brother-in-law and their families were then livintr. The elder
tJ
Seaborn Jones was born in Halifax county, IsT. C., in 1758, and
died in Augusta, Ga., about 1823. He was several times in-
tendant or mayor of Augusta, and was much esteemed as a
capable and useful man.
All the seven sons were soldiers during the Revolutionary
War, the oldest child, Susanna, married, first, - Martin,
second, - Hart, and never lived in Georgia, first in Vir-
ginia, then in Tennessee.
It has often been said that the Petersburg Jones' were re-
markable more for their fine intellect than their good looks, and
in this respect Colonel Jones did not depart from the traits of
the clan. He had a quick, strong, bright mind, and in the
court-house or out was never at a loss for an apt and witty reply.
He was noted all over Georgia for his brilliant repartee.
(]\Iiss) ANNA CAROLINE
Jofm 3. Cut&bert
JUDGE JOHN A. CUTHBERT, of Georgia, and later of
Alabama, was a connecting link between four generations.
He was born at Savannah, Ga., June 3, 1788, and died on
Mon Louis Island, near the city of Mobile, on September 22,
1882, ninety-four years old. A member of the Sixteenth Con-
gress from Georgia, he lived to be the oldest surviving member
of the National House of Representatives in the United States.
He graduated at Princeton University in 1805, and was the last
survivor of that class. The Hon. W. T. Walthall, of Missis-
sippi, writing in the New Orleans Times Democrat at the time
of his death, among other things, said: "He (Judge Cuthbert)
was born before the Constitution of the United States went into
operation. The old Articles of Confederation were then in
force. All the settled parts of the country now constituting the
States of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas,
were then Spanish territory. It was before the outbreak of the
French Revolution. Napoleon Bonaparte was an obscure lieu-
tenant of artillery and Walter Scott an apprentice in his father's
office. Edmund Burke and Benjamin Franklin were still liv-
ing and George Canning and Henry Brougham were college
students. Calhoun and Webster were little children and Henry
Clay was riding astride his meal bag in the Hanover slashes.
He was born in the same year with Byron and Peel. He was
nearly twenty years in advance of Bulwer and Beaconsfield and
Robert E. Lee, just twenty senior to Jefferson Davis and still
more to Lincoln and Gladstone. He was a member of Congress
in his second session when John C. Breckenridge was born, and
a man of middle age at the period of Garfield. He was in Con-
gress during the agitation of the "Missouri Compromise," and
was the associate of Clay, Macon, Lowndes, Randolph, and the
Pinckneys of South Carolina and Maryland.
Judge Cuthbert's father was Col. Seth John Cuthbert, of the
244: MEN OF HARK
Revolutionary armies. His maternal grandfather was Col.
Joseph Clay, one of the Georgia heroes of the Revolution. It
is said of Colonel Clay's descendants iliat for several genera-
tions every one of them were men of unusual note. Judge Cuth-
bert entered the legal profession at his majority and commenced
practice at Eatonton. Later he moved to Liberty county, and
for many years represented that county in the General Assem-
bly, either in the Senate or in the House. During the war of
1812 he was commander of a volunteer company. He was
twice married. His first wife died after a very brief period,
without, issue, and in 1814 he married Miss Louisa E. Croft.
In 1819 he was elected a representative to the Sixteenth Con-
gress. The position which he had attained by this time in
Georgia may best be evidenced by the fact that he was put for-
ward by his party as the opponent of the celebrated John For-
syth for the United States Senate. The vote was a tie, and
it was only the next day that Forsyth's friends were able to
secure his election by bringing in the odd man necessary. In
the feud between Clarke and Troup which agitated Georgia for
twenty-five years, Judge Cuthbert was friendly to the Clarke
faction, and the domination of the Troup faction between 1823
and 1833 prevented his election to the Laiited States Senate.
The new alignment of parties in 1833 placed his brother Alfred
in the United States Senate. He was a brilliant political
writer, and after two moves, first to Forsvth and then to Mil-
ledge vi lie, he became the editor of the Federal Union, between
1830 and 1835, and his editorial term was marked by signal
ability. In 1837 he moved to Alabama and settled at Mobile.
He practiced his profession there quietly until 1840, when he
was elected by the General Assembly of Alabama judge of the
court of Mobile, and in 1852 was appointed by the Governor
judge of the Circuit Court of the same county.
«/
After retiring from the bench, he continued in the active prac-
tice of his profession the remainder of his life, and Judge Clark
says that a very remarkable feature of it was that in his later
years his strength seemed to increase and his practice steadily
JOHN A. CUTHBERT 245
grew. Judge Cuthbert was recognized as an able lawyer, a
patriotic and fearless statesman, and a man of great kindness
and courtesy. He was outspoken and courageous always to the
last days of his life in opposition to everything in our public
life which hinted at unfaithfulness to the public welfare. He
lived to such a great age that out of a family of seventeen there
survived at his death only two sons and one daughter.
There is a discrepancy in the authorities as to the date of
Judge Cuthbert's death, one authority giving 1881 and another
1882. There is also some doubt as to whether the town of
Cuthbert, in Randolph county, is named in honor of Alfred,
who was a United States Senator, or Judge Cuthbert, but as the
town was incorporated in 1834, before Senator Cuthbert had
risen to such prominence, and Judge Cuthbert at that time
being one of the best known men in the State, the weight of evi-
dence seems to be in favor of Judge Cuthbert.
BERNARD SUTTLER.
THE EEV. DR. ADIEL SHERWOOD neither spent the
first nor the last years of his life in Georgia, but as Geor-
gia was the theatre of his usefulness for a great many
years, he properly belongs to the eminent men of Georgia during
the first half of the nineteenth century. He was born at Fort
Edward, ]ST. Y., October 3, 1791. His great-grandfather was
Dr. Thomas Sherwood, who came from England and settled in
ISTew York in 1633. Dr. Sherwood had good educational ad-
vantages and graduated from the Union College, at Schenec-
tady, N. Y., in 1817. He studied theology for a time in the
Andover Theological Seminary, and in 1818 was preaching in
Savannah. He taught school for two years at Waynesboro, was
ordained to the Baptist ministry at Bethesda, Greene county.
At a meeting of the Sarepta Baptist Association held at Ruckers-
ville, Elbert county, he offered the resolution which resulted in
the organization of the Georgia State Baptist Convention, and
in 1823 at the Triennial Convention in Washington he offered
the resolution which started the organization of state conven-
tions all over the country. He served as pastor for the churches
at Penficld, Milledgeville, Macon, Greensboro, Griffin, Monti-
cello and Greenville. He was a great educator and promoter
of education and was one of the movers in the establishment of
Mercer University. He also established and ran a manual
school at Eaton. After the establishment of Mercer he served
it three years as professor of sacred literature while holding the
pastorate at Penfield. In 1837 he was a professor in the
Columbian College, at Washington, D. C. In 1841 he was
president of Shurtleff College, Alton, 111. In 1848-9 he was
president of the Masonic College, Lexington, Mo. In 1857 we
find him back in Georgia as president of the Marshall College,
at Griffin. Union College, from which he had graduated in
1817, conferred upon him the degree of LL.D.
ADIEL SHERWOOD. L'4T
He was a man of commanding appearance, very intellectual,
and at the same time spiritual, simple in bis manners, modest
in deportment, learned in many directions, and was one of the
early giants of his church in Georgia. He was of creative mind
and possessed excellent business qualifications. He knew in
some degree in a personal way every president from Washington
to Grant, and had personal acquaintance with twenty Georgia
governors, from Mitchell to Jenkins. Among his personal
friends were counted nineteen United States Senators, and he
aided to educate thirty young Baptist ministers. In 1821 Dr.
Sherwood married the widow of Governor Peter Early, of Geor-
gia. She lived but a little while, and in 1824 he married Miss
Heriot, of South Carolina. He died in St. Louis, Mo., August
18, 1879, nearly eighty-eight years old. His work in Georgia
was of vast importance to the educational and religious interests
of the State in the formative period. In 1829 Dr. Sherwood
published a "Gazetteer of Georgia." It looks very small to pres-
ent eyes, but it contained a mass of matter which at the time
was of great value and was really the first effort to put in handy
shape useful information about the then new State of Georgia.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
OTiUtam Crosfap
WILLIAM CROSBY DAWSOX. lawyer, soldier and
statesman, was a native Georgian, born June 4-, 1798,
in Greene county, which at that time was on the fron-
tier. The family was of pure Engli>h descent, and had come to
Georgia by way <>t' Virginia, where the Da\v>ons had been set-
tled for several generations. The name goes back a long way in
England, there being records of it upon the poll-tax lists and tax
mils as far back as the year 127-'>. When William (\ Dawson
was born, the Indians had not removed from the we-t.'ru bank
of the Oconee, which was the boundary line of his country, and
he grew up amid the privations and hardships of a frontier set-
tlement. School advantages Avere extremely limited, but his
parents were industrious, hard-working people, and gave him
the benefit of such a- the country afforded. He had the ad-
vantage of gelling the rudiments under the tuition of Rev. Dr.
dimming1, a Scotch-Irish clergyman of great learning, followed
by a course at the local academy in the town of Greensboro. He
then entered Franklin College, which is now the University of
Georgia. He was graduated in 1816. Upon leaving college he
entered upon the Mudy of law in the office of Thomas W. Cobb,
of Lexington, who was at that time one of the leading lawyers
and politicians of the State. From there young Dawson went
to the famous law school at Litchfield, Conn., then under Judges
Reeve and Gould, and counted the best law school at that time
in the nation. After a full course at Litchfield, he returned to
Georgia and was admitted to the bar at Greensboro, in 1818.
Ocmulgee circuit, as it was called when he came to the bar,
numbered among its practitioners the best talent of the State,
and the young lawyer had to win his spurs by the most strenuous
effort. I low completely he won out is evidenced by a record of
his public employment. He was clerk of the House of Repre-
sentatives twelve years ; compiler of the laws of Georgia from
.and
WILLIAM CROSBY DAWSON. 251
"Tea and coffee won't hurt you any more." Governor McDon-
ald, his successful competitor in the gubernatorial race, ap-
pointed Judge Dawson to fill a vacancy on the bench of the
Ocmulgee Circuit. He filled out the unexpired term, but de-
c-lined a reelection.
Although one of the most genial and affable of men, full of
humor and wit, he despised false dignity. He made an excel-
lent judge, and when on the bench was patient, urbane and
frank. In 1849 he was elected to the United States Senate
and served the full term. During this term his reputation
became national. He was a favorite of such men as Clay, Cal-
houn, Webster, Benton and others, was appointed on important
committees in the Senate and was chairman of several, and
was recognized by his colleagues as one of the ablest men at
that time in Congress. Just before his retirement the citizens
of Washington, through the mayor and alderman, presented
him with a silver pitcher and a pair of richly chased silver
goblets, with an inscription signifying their gratitude for his
service in behalf of the city as chairman of the committee of
the District of Columbia. His career in Congress was most
efficient. He spoke seldom, always in plain speech, to the
point, with logical argument, devoid of ornament, and became
before the end of his term a most influential member.
Judge Dawson was twice married. In 1819 he married
Miss Henrietta M. Wingfield, a daughter of Dr. Thomas Wing-
field, a prominent physician of Greensboro, whose family had
come from Virginia. Judge Dawson said of her that "she
was the chief source of his happiness and success." She was
an intellectual, dignified woman, of much beauty, remarkable
for her strong sense and piety, and was a great force in his
life for good. She died in 1850, leaving a number of children,
and in 1854 Judge Dawson again married, Mrs. Eliza M. Wil-
liams, of Memphis, Tenn., who survived him for many years.
On the fifth of May, 1856, he died suddenly at his home
in Greensboro, in the fifty-ninth year of his age. In early
manhood Judge Dawson had become a member of the Masonic
252 MEN OF MARK
fraternity and bad reached the highest point in that great
order, having been for thirteen years prior to his death the
head of the order in Georgia, and Masons by the hundred, as
many as were in reach, flocked to his funeral, which was one
of the most notable ever held in the State, a peculiar feature
of it being one hundred young ladies from the Southern
Masonic Female College, who went next to his family in the
funeral procession, all dressed in white. This school had been
to him an object of deep solicitude. He regarded the young
ladies, and often spoke of them, as daughters, and it was but
fit and proper that they should show their appreciation of his
labors in their behalf in the beautiful manner in which they
did. Dawson county, organized after his death and named in
his honor, perpetuates the memory of an honest, able and faith-
ful public servant and good citizen.
E. J. MASSEY.
THOMAS SPALDING, in whose honor Spaldihg county
was named, was born at Frederica, St. Simon's Island,
Glynn county, Ga., on March 26, 1774. He was of Scot-
tish descent. His father, James Spalding, married the oldest
daughter of Colonel William Mclntosh, who was the older
brother of the distinguished Lachlan Mclntosh Both of these
were sons of John Moore Mclntosh, chief of the Highland clan,
who with his followers came with General Oglethorpe to Geor-
gia in 1736. The elder Spalding was a man of fine ability and
a great student, whose tastes were inherited by his son Thomas,
and who added to his inherited qualities a most tenacious mem-
ory, which made him in his day a man of noted information and
attainments. He was the only child, and his mother, an excel-
lent and kindly woman, instilled into him benevolent traits of
character, which abided with him through life and made for
him many friends.
He began the study of law in the office of Thomas Gibbons,
of Savannah, but his estate, which was a large one, requiring
his personal attention, he abandoned the law. He married a
daughter of Richard Leake, a man of good estate, and as she
was the only child, this added largely to his means. About the
time of his marriage, though he had barely reached his majority,
he was elected to the General Assembly. Shortly after this he
visited Europe with his family and spent two years in London,
where he regularly attended and watched the proceedings of
Parliament. His wife was a woman of rare accomplishments,
good sense, and great beauty. Many children were born to
them, of whom five survived the parents. His oldest son, James,
a most brilliant and promising man, died while a member of the
Legislature from Mclntosh county, in 1820. The Legisla-
ture erected a monument to his memory, so greatly was he be-
loved. On his return from England, Mr. Spalding was elected
254 MEN OF MARK
to the ]Santh Congress, but served only a part of the term, re-
signing in 1806. After that he served many terms as a member
of the State Senate, in which he was always a leading member.
He was an ardent patriot, and gave most conscientious service
to the country, even to the neglect at times of his personal affairs
and personal enjoyment.
At the close of the war of 1812, under commission from the
General Government, he went to Bermuda and negotiated rela-
tive to the slaves and other property taken from the South by
the British forces. In 1826 he was appointed Commissioner
on the part of the State to meet the Commissioner of the United
States, Governor Randolph, of \7irginia, to determine on the
boundary line between Georgia and the Territory of Florida,
but the Commissioners did not settle the matter, as they dis-
agreed.
Pie was a fluent, energetic speaker, and a fine writer, his
style being distinguished by original character. He was the
author of the "Life of Oglethorpe" and of other sketches, and
furnished much useful matter for various agricultural journals
of the country. One of the earliest cotton planters of the State,
IK- also aided in introducing sugar cane and its successful cul-
ture into the State. He served as a member of the Constitu-
tional Convention of 1798 before he was twenty-five years old,
and was the last surviving member of that Convention. A man
of abounding hospitality, affable and courteous manners, he was
accessible to all and a friend of the distressed. The owner of
a large number of slaves, none of them were ever oppressed or
hard worked by their kind-hearted master.
He was profoundly interested in the Compromise measures
of Congress growing out of the slavery question, and though in
delicate health, he declared his intention of attending the Con-
vention of 1850, at Milledgeville, even if he should die in the
effort. He reached the city, and though very feeble was elected
president of the Convention. He made an appropriate address,
remarking in conclusion that "as it would be the last, so it would
also be a graceful termination of his public labors." After the
THOMAS 8PALDING. 255
adjournment, he returned homeward by way of Savannah,
reached his son's residence near Darien greatly debilitated, and
there died, in the midst of his children, January 4, 1851, in
the seventy-seventh year of his age.
His residence on the island was a noted one, being a massive
mansion of unique style, in the midst of a primeval forest of
lofty and wide-spreading oaks covered with a graceful drapery
of gray moss. Here he had spent some fifty years of a most
useful life. So greatly was he esteemed that immediately after
his death, in 1851, the Legislature created a new county and
named it Spalding.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHES.
iHtUiam
THE Honorable and Colonel William Henry Stiles was
a descendant of an English family which had furnished
many noted men in onr country. There were several
branches of the family, the Connecticut branch being the most
numerous. In this Connecticut branch Dr. Ezra Stiles,
president of Yale College from 1777 to 1795, was a
prominent figure. Dr. Henry Reed Stiles, of N"ew York
( 'ity, born 18:52, was for fifty years one of the foremost men in
the medical profession in our country. William Henry Stiles
came from the Bermuda branch, founded in those islands by
John Stiles, who settled in Bermuda in 1635, and is said to have
been about thirty-five years old at the time he came from Eng-
land. He left numerous descendants, and about 1764 Capt.
Samuel Stiles, the founder of the Georgia family, came from
Bermuda and settled in what is now Bryan county. He left his
family in Bermuda while opening up the plantation, and, not-
withstanding this fact, when the Revolutionary War commenced,
Captain Stiles took part with the Americans and rendered valu-
able service. He was a genial man of great physical strength,
and some interesting stories are told of his physical perform-
ances. His sou, Joseph, a rice planter, who inherited his
father's splendid physique, was twice married, and of these mar-
riages there were born ten children. There was an interval of
forty-three years between the birth of his oldest and youngest
child.
William Henry was a son of the first wife, whose maiden
name was Catherine Clay, daughter of Joseph Clay, of Savan-
nah. He was the fourth child, born in Savannah in 1809. His
early life was spent in that city. He became a student at Yale
College, but left before graduating. In 1832 he married Eliza-
beth Mackay. Colonel Stiles studied law, was admitted to the
bar, and in 1833, when only twenty-four years of age, was made
WILLIAM HENRY STILES. 257
solicitor-general of the eastern district of Georgia. He served
in this capacity until 1836. He then returned to the practice
of his profession, which he followed continuously until 1840,
when he was sent by the Federal Government to pay the Chero-
kee Indians in Xorth Georgia for the lands which they had
deeded to the Government. He was so much pleased \vith the
soil and climate of that section that he bought some of the
newly-acquired lands and settled on the banks of the Etowah
River in what was then Cass and is now Bartow county. He
was elected to the Twenty-eighth Congress by the people of
Georgia, serving from 1843 to 1845, and several times repre-
sented his county in the General Assembly of Georgia. From
the completion of his congressional term in 1845 until 1849 he
was Charge D'Affaires of the United States in Austria, and
after his return in 1852, he published a valuable and standard
work on Austria in 1849, which had a wide circulation at that
time, as it was a complete exposition of conditions in that
country at a very disturbed period.
At the commencement of the Civil War, he raised a regiment
for the Confederacy, known as the Sixtieth Georgia, of which
he became Colonel. His regiment was attached to Hayes's Brig-
ade, Early's Division, Ewell's Second Corps, Army of North-
ern Virginia. His health failing, he returned to Savannah in
1863, and died there on December 21, 1864.
Colonel Stiles was a sparely built man of six feet, delicate
features and blue eyes. He was a cultivated man, and as an
orator was considered to rank in the first class. It is said of
him that he never spoke without elaborate preparation, but
after this preparation, so warm and so eloquent was his speech,
that his hearers regarded it as the result of the inspiration of
the moment. His voice was very clear and like the note of a
trumpet. As Speaker of the Georgia Legislature, he made an
excellent reputation for perfect impartiality and courteous man-
ner towards all the members, and was very popular with the
members of the House.
17
258 MEN OF MARK
His wife, Elizabeth Mackay, whom he married in Savannah in
1832, was a descendant of Capt. John McQueen, who served as
a special envoy from Washington to Marquis Lafayette during
the Revolutionary War. She survived him but two years, dying
at Etowah on December 12, 1866. He named his home place
where he settled in 1840, "Etowah Cliffs." The village of
Stilesboro in Bartow county, near where he settled, was named
for him. Of his marriage three children were born, none of
whom are now surviving, though several grandchildren are liv-
ing, some in Georgia, and some in Great Britain. During his
thirty years of activity, Colonel Stiles ranked among the leading
men of the State in point of ability and irreproachable character,
and was highly esteemed not only within the limits of the State,
but at the National Capital, where it takes men of more than
ordinary force to gain recognition.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
THE nineteenth century was a period of such marvelous
growth, that men who lived to old age were often connect-
ing links between the period of Indian warfare, and the
period of advanced modern invention.
Judge Thomas Stocks, of Greene county, was one of those who,
born in a frontier Indian fort on February 1, 1786, lived to see
Georgia a modern commonwealth with one million and a half
inhabitants.
When he was born the Oconee River was the dividing line
between the advancing white settlers, and the Indians. The
population of the State at that time exclusive of Indians, was
possibly 70,000. White men went to their ploughs with gun
in hand, and never got far from it because at any moment the
dread Indian war-whoop might be heard, and often the barbed
arrow brought a soundless death to the hardy pioneer.
Along the Oconee the whites had built a line of rude log forts,
and it was in one of these Thomas Stocks first saw the light.
At ten years of age he was an orphan and fell under the care
of an uncle, by whom he was reared to manhood, amid the rude
and turbulent scenes of the Indian frontier. A new treaty with
the Indians pushing the frontier to the Chattahoochee relieved
the Oconee settlers from further danger of Indian incursions,
and in 1807, then twenty-one years old, Judge Stocks married
and began the cultivation of his lands in Greene county.
His early education was limited but his natural powers were
great. He was a close observer and possessed much public spirit,
so that he became promptly interested in politics. His interest
and force of character soon brought him into prominence and
in 1813 he was elected to the lower house of the General Assem-
bly, where he served eight years so acceptably that he was pro-
moted to the upper house where he remained twelve years.
During eight of his twelve years in the Senate he was the presi-
dent of that body.
260 MEN OF MARK
Before he was thirty years old he was elected one of the
judges of the Inferior Court of Greene county, and filled the
position continuously for more than thirty years, though ren-
dering other public services during this long period.
In 1828 he was converted under the preaching of Rev. John
Lumpkin, a brother of Governor Wilson Lumpkin and Judge
Joseph Henry Lumpkin, and baptized in October of that year.
For the remainder of his long life the Baptist church shared
his services with the Commonwealth. Thus in 1829 he was
raising money to help needy young ministers to an education.
In 1831 he was apparently the principal man on the commit-
tee to carry out this educational idea and in 1833 the school
was established eight miles north of Greensboro, at a place called
Penfield, in honor of Josiah Penfield, of Savannah, who had
given the first $2,500 toward its establishment. The school
was called Mercer Institute in honor of Rev. Jesse Mercer, a
noted Baptist preacher and teacher, who gave many years and
much money to its upbuilding. Moved to Macon in 1870, we
now know it as Mercer University, one of the leading denomi-
national schools of the country.
This school was very dear to Judge Stocks, and he gave to it,
during the remainder of his life much time and fully ten thou-
sand dollars in money. In 1832 Judge Stocks was a delegate
from the Baptist State Convention to the General Baptist Con-
vention in New York.
For forty years he was a member of the executive committee
of the State Baptist Convention, and for many years president
of the Board of Trustees and chairman of the Prudential Com-
mittee.
For several years he was clerk of the Convention, and for ten
years its president. He was contemporary with Mercer, Mai-
lory, Sherwood, Sanders, Dawson, Thompson, Kilpatrick, Mell
and other great Baptist leaders, and did much in his time toward
building the denomination up to its present position of influence
and usefulness.
He died in Greene county October 6, 1876, nearly ninety-one
THOMAS STOCKS. 261
years of age. He is known to have been twice married. Of
his first wife we know nothing ; his second wife was Miss Fan-
nie Davis, whose relatives now live in North and Middle Geor-
gia. Judge Stocks had in larger measure than most men the
privilege of seeing the fruit of his labors, and knowing that the
fruit was good.
From the backwoods fort to Mercer University is a far cry,
but the backwoods boy lived to lay the foundation of the great
school, and to see an army of consecrated men pouring from its
doors to enter upon lives of noble usefulness.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
THE HON. CHARLES TAIT, lawyer, judge, and United
States Senator, was born in Louisa county, Va., about
1768, and died in Wilcox county, Ala., October 17, 1835.
At an early age he came to Georgia and entered upon the prac-
tice of law. In 1795 he was rector of the Richmond Academy,
at Augusta, and a little later was said to have been for a time
law partner with William H. Crawford. A strong friendship
existed between the two men, believed to have had its origin in
their association when they were aiding each other in the estab-
lishment of the Richmond Academy. Judge Tait attained
prominence at the bar to such an extent that he became judge of
the Western circuit on November 19, 1803. He was still serv-
ing in this capacity when the incident occurred, out of which
grew the deadly feud between John Clarke and William H.
Crawford. Judge Tait had taken an affidavit of a man who
made serious charges against Gen. John Clarke, later Governor
Clarke. Clarke believed that this affidavit was the result of a
plot between Crawford and Tait to mar his political fortunes,
and appealed to the Legislature for redress. The Legislature
declined to take action. A personal encounter followed be-
tween Tait and Clarke, and later a duel between Crawford and
Clarke, in which Crawford was wounded. Judge Tait was also
the hero of a very amusing correspondence between Judge Dooly
and himself, in which he challenged Judge Dooly to fight a duel.
Dooly declined on the ground that the terms were not equal,
Tait having a wooden leg. Judge Tait insisted, then Dooly re-
plied that he must have the privilege of encasing one of his legs
in a beegum in order to equalize the chances. Tait then threat-
ened to publish him. in the newspapers of the State as a coward.
Dooly replied that Judge Tait was at perfect liberty to do so,
at his own expense, as he would rather fill the columns of a
dozen newspapers than one coffin.
CHARLES TAIT. 263
In 1809 Judge Tait was appointed United States Senator to
fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of John Milledge.
At the expiration of that term he was elected for a full term and
served altogether nearly ten years, from December 28, 1809, to
March 3, 1819, when having been appointed United States dis-
trict judge for Alabama, he resigned and moved to Wilcox
county in that State. He served as United States judge for
Alabama until 1826, when he resigned and retired to private
life for the remaining nine years that he lived.
Judge Tait was recognized as a strong lawyer, and in the
Senate was an able supporter of the administrations of Presi-
dents Madison and Monroe.
As to his family life no data is now available, but the fact
that he filled acceptably the position of Judge for several years
and of United States Senator for ten years is proof that he
was a man of far more than ordinary ability.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
Hongstreet
AUGUSTUS BALDWIN" LOXGSTREET was born on
Reynolds street in the city of Augusta on the 22d day
of September in the year 1790. It is said he weighed
seventeen pounds the day he was bom. His father was of an
inventive turn of mind, and contrived an odd steamboat to run
on the Savannah River, preceding the more valuable invention
of Robert Fulton by several years.
Young Longstreet was early sent to school in Augusta but his
own account of his experience as a student is far from encourag-
ing. Said he, "I was considered by my preceptors a dunce in
several of my academic studies and treated accordingly." It
was the day of the dunce cap and he was probably made to en-
dure the tortures of the ridicule and mortification occasioned by
the old-time discipline. At any rate he started badly and hated
his first school.
While still a youth his father moved to Edgefield District in
South Carolina where the boy was free to grow up with the
count rv around him. He cared nothing for books then, but his
«/
highest ambition was to outrun, outjmnp, outshoot, and throw
down any man in the district.
After a few years lie went \n Angn-ta and back to school.
Chance threw him under the same roof and in the same bed
with George McDuffie. They were young men together — each
full of genius, ambition, fire. McDuffie was an intense student,
devouring with greediness every book and newspaper he could lay
his hands upon. He took delight in reading aloud, and would
not let Longstreet leave him because he took delight in having
an audience. This was at first irksome, then tolerable and
finally delightful to Longstreet.
In a few years Longstreet went to Dr. Moses Waddell's school
in South Carolina where so many other youths had lighted their
intellectual lamp. Hero at last he was aroused. Says he,
AUGUSTUS BALDWIN LONGSTREET. 267
of the chapel was the steward's hall, where most of the young
men had their meals.
The village itself was composed of eighteen or twenty houses,
scattered within a radius of a mile of the chapel, some of which
had been there before, but most of which sprang up with the
foundation of the college. In these the faculty lived, some stu-
dents boarded, and citizens resided who had interests of various
sorts in the institution.
In such a place and with such a beginning there were proba-
bly one hundred young men, mainly from ISTorth Georgia, who
had come by stage coach, by wagon, or on horseback, sturdy sons
of the Georgia soil, bent on knowledge, and with high ambitions
and high purposes, as hardy as the oaks by which they were sur-
rounded and sturdy as the granite under their feet. At day-
break they were awake, at sunrise they were marshaled by the
chapel bell, into their early devotions. Then some moved off
to learn mathematics from that prodigy of numerical science,
Dr. Haddiman ; some were off to learn Greek from George TV.
Lane; some to learn Latin from Dr. Archelaw Mitchell; some
to learn chemistry from Dr. Alexander Means, and others to
learn moral science or political economy or evidences of Christi-
anity from the president himself.
It was not all study, for in those days a farm was connected
with the college, and all the boys were required to plough the
ground, plant cotton or corn, pull fodder and pick cotton, and
do the usual happy duties supposed to attach to life on the farm.
Each class worked in turn in the fields, taking a lesson in practi-
cal agriculture from the superintendent, as they would labora-
tory work in any science, capable of practical demonstration.
There were seven or eight horses or mules and one or two hun-
dred acres of land, and we can imagine the alacrity with which
the young Freshmen stepped up to the plow, took hold of the bell
line and addressed his remarks to the business end of a Georgia
mule, long vexed by the pranks of the upper classes.
But it was manual labor in those days, and the boys made
the cotton and the corn and peas and vegetables that help run the
268 MEN OF MARK
college and supply the dormitories. It is not recorded that they
rebelled except in cotton picking time when every boy had to
turn out at once and pick cotton, while the faculty sat on the
fence and gave their fatherly advice. At such times it was
customary to jump a rabbit and for all the college to take after
it whether they saw it or not, trample as much cotton as they
could, and waste all the time possible.
It was in the days of the police system by the faculty, when
the professors took turns by night in patrolling the campus and
village, to catch the unwary prowlers or frustrate the unlucky
designer of the midnight joke But as is always the case the
more the boys were watched the worse they became, and the life
of the patrol became no joke, the midnight revels would not
cease until the midnight eye ceased to pry, and then there being
110 longer anything to elude, there was no longer any fun.
To such wholesome and natural conditions of young men's life
in college came Judge Long-street in 1840 when he was fifty
years of age as a man, but still full of fine vigor and freshness
of youth. He had a mind trained in the law, a tongue ready,
eloquent and witty, a taste for literary composition, even at
times for poetry, a spirit of loyalty to Georgia and southern con-
ditions, a nature full of cheer and good humor, a sympathy
broad enough to understand every boy and to encompass him in
the affection of his great and generous heart.
His inaugural address laid down his platform. In February,
1840, in the little wooden chapel, with the hundred boys seated
on the benches, the faculty, the trustees and the citizens seated
around, he delivered a splendid call to labor, to study, to up-
right and careful living, and to the defense of southern institu-
tions.
Judge Long-street was president of Emory College for eight
years. He lived in the president's house, which was the same
then as now, and his devoted wife and daughter lived with him.
Young men boarded in the house, and came within the charmed
circle of his rare humor and happy nature. The judge was as
ugly as ever, tall, lean, and loosely put together. His nose was
AUGUSTUS BALDWIN LONGSTREET. 269
long and flat and generally ornamented at the very end with a
pair of spectacles over which he would look at the boys and
through which he would look at his book.
He was a little absent-minded at times, when absorbed in his
work, and once came out of his recitation room leaving his hat.
When reminded of his bare head he went back and soon re-
turned, asking of his directors if they remembered what he went
back after. He carried his keys on a string, and was in the habit
of hanging his glasses over his ears. More than once he mixed
things up and hung his keys over his ears and put the glasses
in his pocket. He was a famous performer on the flute, and
played upon a fine instrument made of glass, which is now pre-
served among the relics of the Smithsonian Institution.
Many are the traditions of the judge's splendid good humor,
his sturdy love for the boys and his ability to take a practical
joke. Once when he asked at the chapel for all complaints
against the boarding house to be filed with him, he promptly re-
ceived a note from his own boarders asking for more chicken.
He took the note in good humor and sent a large waiter of deli-
cacies to the rooms of the students, who really had no cause to
complain.
He informed the students that when they wanted to ring the
college bell just for fun to let him know and he would go with
them. One rainy night at ten o'clock a delegation appeared
and said they were strongly moved to ring the bell. It was dark
and wet and cold, and and the judge looked out at the night and
said, "Young men if you are moved to ring the bell a night like
this and see any fun in it you have my prayers and sympathies.
Go on, but I think I shall stay here."
He told the students he would stop tobacco if they would, and.
so everybody passed the word and quit. The judge held out
for a week; the boys caught him, and said, "Judge, you are
chewing tobacco. We thought you had quit." "Well, I did,
boys," was the answer, "but for your sakes I started again."
He was too old to correct the habits of a lifetime.
For eight years he lived and wrought and lived with the boys,
270 MEN OF MARK
a simple, strong, unaffected and manly type of a noble and gen-
erous life. Brilliant in conversation, strong in opinion, vigor-
ous in his writings, loyal in every fiber to Georgia and fearless
in defense of what he thought to be right, Longstreet was an in-
spiration to the young men of his college, as every president is
or should be.
It would have been a surprise and a chagrin to Judge Long-
street if he had been told during his life that his most enduring
fame would rest upon his humor in that inimitable collection
known as "Georgia Scenes."
These sketches were written about 1830 when he was still a
lawyer, and he spoke of them afterwards as a '"literary baga-
telle, the amusement of my idle hours." Whatever they may
have been to him, it is certain they made him famous. They
were published first in one of the gazettes of the State, and after-
wards issued in book form. The humor is broad, the characters
strongly drawn, the language and scenery intensely local. The
incidents were many of them personal experiences, or observa-
tions, or traditions familiar to him, and every one of them could
easily have happened. They were all typical of the times and
every Georgia fireside was made merry with their mirth-provok-
ing fun.
In the Debating Society, for instance, the characters that fig-
ured as leaders were Longworth, which was Longstreet himself,
and McDermot, which was George McDuffie, his associate in
early school days. Those two conspired to propose the absurd
topic for debate, '"Whether at public elections, should the votes
of factions predominate by internal suggestion of the bias of
jurisprudence?"
The wax works really occurred in Waynesboro, and Xed Brace
was Edmund Bacon, an inveterate practical joker who came
from Edgefield, S. C. Who does not know of the famous
"gander pulling" at Augusta, of the horse-swap and of Ransy
Sniffles, wrho had fed copiously on red clay and blackberries
until he had a complexion a corpse would have disdained to own.
AUGUSTUS BALDWIN LONGSTREET. 271
All these have become part of the traditions of our State and not
to know them is to miss the rarest fun in the language.
At one time in the United States House of Representatives,
there was a long and bitter sectional debate. The Democrats
had agreed to remain quiet and not stir up animosities that
should be allowed to subside. A Republican member, however,
made a violent assault upon the Democratic party, pacing the
aisle and gesticulating wildly and shaking his fists at the Demo-
cratic side of the house, and daring them to come out to the
fight. Mr. S. S. Cox, of New York, asked if he might inter-
rupt the gentleman for a moment. "With pleasure ; I will be
glad to hear what you have to say," said the orator. Mr. Cox
sent up to the clerk's desk a copy of "Georgia Scenes," with the
request that certain pages be read. The clerk read "Georgia
Theaters, or the Lincoln County Rehearsal," while the entire
House broke into uproars of laughter and applause.
Judge Longstreet, who was now entitled to be called Dr.
Longstreet, from the degree of LL.D. conferred upon him by
Yale College in 18-41, at the instance of John C. Calhoun, re-
signed his position as president of Emory College in 1848, and
quietly took up the life of an itinerant preacher. To him as to
all great souls no work was insignificant, and labor was not
valued by its conspicuousness or its compensation.
In 1849 he was called to be president of the University of
Mississippi, where he labored until 1856. In 1857 he was
called to be president of the University of South Carolina, where
he labored until the war began, and until all the students, largely
by his influence and suggestions, enlisted as a body in the service
of the Confederate States. He spoke to the graduating class of
1859 of that college in burning words, defending the case of the
South, prophesying the victory of its armies and defying the
jSTorth to invade her territory or trample upon her rights.
The boys took him at his word and rushed into the field, where
many sleep under the quiet stars of Virginia, or the verdant
banks of the rolling rivers. Dr. Longstreet was now seventy
years old, stricken in years. He spent the stormy period of the
272 MEN OF MARK
war with a kinsman in Alabama watching with painful but pa-
triotic interest the inevitable result of that great conflict. At
the close of the war he retired to Oxford, Miss., where in 1868
he was quite broken by the death of his wife. In 1870 when
nearly eighty years of age, the family gathered around the bed-
side of the venerable man. His mind was clear to the very last.
He placed his finger upon his own wrist and marked the beating
of the fast failing pulse. Growing weaker his hand fell away
but it was replaced by some one near by. Finally his face was
illuminated with a rare radiance, as if a light had shined upon
it, or a loved one had come before him, and he exclaimed "Look,
look," with the radiance of the celestial city upon him and
the beckonings of his beloved waving him as he swept into the
beyond. So passed the great soul away and the world is better
for his having been.
LAWTON B. EVANS.
iWattfjeto
GOVERNOR MATTHEW TALBOT, one of the most
prominent men in Georgia during the first quarter of the
nineteenth century, was descended from one of the old-
est Norman families in England. He was a grandson of Mat-
thew Talbot, who was the third son of the tenth Earl of Shrews-
bury. That Matthew Talbot was born in England in 1699.
In 1722 he came on a visit to Maryland with his cousin Edward,
a son of Earl Talbot, to visit relatives who had settled there and
for whom Talbot county in that State was named. Edward re-
turned to England, but Matthew fell in love with and married
Mary Williston, daughter of James and Mary Belgrave Willis-
ton. He thus became a permanent settler in America. From
Maryland he moved to Amelia county, Va., where four sons
were born to him. After the death of his wife, he moved to
Bedford county, where he owned a large plantation on the Otter
river, near the three peaks known as the Peaks of Otter, and
called his place "Fancy Farm." In Bedford county, as he had
been in the lower country, he was a leading man. He had been
high sheriff in Lunenburg, and was chairman of the commis-
sioners of the county court and high chairman and a vestryman
in Cumberland parish, which included Brunswick and Lunen-
burg. He received large grants of land in Amelia, Prince
George, Lunenburg and Bedford, and also bought much land in
the western country. He died in 1758, and the home place was
inherited by his son John, born July 13, 1735, in Amelia county.
John married Phebe Moseley, daughter of Colonel William
Moseley, of Henrico county, Va. In Bedford county, John's
five children were born; Thomas, the eldest, in 1760; Matthew,
in 1762 ; and three daughters later. John Talbot was rated a
man of first-class ability and was familiarly known as "Great
John." He was high sheriff of Bedford county, judge of the
18
274 MEN OF MARK
county court, and served during twenty-five sessions in the
Virginia House of Burgesses. He was a member of the famous
House of 1774, which practically declared the independence of
the Virginia colony, and one of the thirteen men who left Lord
Dunmore's council upon the 4th of June, 1774, and signed what
was tantamount to a declaration of independence.
In 1769, John Talbot bought fifty thousand acres of land on
the wild frontier of Georgia in what was then known as Wilkes
county. It is said that he brought with him to Georgia, to
help in surveying these lands, George Walton, who afterwards
became so eminent in the State. Walton was then a struggling
young man. In 1783, when Matthew Talbot was just of age,
his father, John Talbot, moved from Virginia to Wilkes county,
and immediately upon his arrival was elected to public office.
He was a judge of the county court and a member of the con-
vention of 1789, and one of the nine men who ratified the tem-
porary Constitution. He brought with him to Wilkes county
over one hundred slaves and was a man of much wealth.
The Talbot family had a strong sense of family loyalty. It
is said that Matthew Talbot became temporarily embarrassed,
whereupon his elder brother, Thomas, assumed twenty thousand
dollars for him, saying that 110 Talbot should owe any man.
Matthew Talbot was too young to serve in the Revolutionary
War and was just, a man grown when his father moved to Wilkes
county. He grew up a man of strong, good sense, inflexibly
honest, with much firmness of character. His personal popu-
larity was great and he was rigidly faithful to every trust. For
some years he represented Wilkes county in the Legislature and
then moved to Oglethorpe. He was elected from Oglethorpe a
delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1798, which framed
the Constitution under which Georgia grew and prospered for
seventy-five years. In 1808 he was elected to the State Senate
and was kept there for the next fifteen years by his constituents.
From 1818 to 1823 he was the president of the Senate, and upon
the death of Governor Rabun, in October, 1819, he became ex-
officio Governor and served until the Legislature filled the
MATTHEW TALBOT. 275
vacancy a month later, when he again took up the duties of presi-
dent of the Senate. His legislative service covered all together
a period of nearly thirty years, and he ranked as one of the
strong, capable and patriotic members of the General Assembly.
As a presiding officer of the Senate his conduct was always char-
acterized by uniform dignity and exemplary impartiality. He
is said to have been a man of fine appearance, well educated,
and of kindly yet dignified manners.
In 1824 he retired from public life and sought rest at his
country home. He did not long survive, but died on the 17th
of September, 1827, at the age of sixty-five. There is some lit-
tle uncertainty about the exact year of his birth. Some of the
authorities claim that he was born in 1767, but descendants of
the Talbot family now living in Georgia state that he was born
in 1762. The Augusta Courier of September 20, 1827, having
just learned of his death, said : "It is with no ordinary feelings
we announce the death of a truly good man, Matthew Talbot.
The fall of such a man at any time is calculated to produce feel-
ings of poignant regret, but to be thus cut off in the brightness
of his prospects, on the eve of an interesting election in which he
was a prominent candidate, to have the eager hopes of so large
a circle of friends thus blasted has excited a sensation of sorrow
deep and universal. Personal enemies he had none; and his
political opponents mixed with their opposition none of the gall
of bitterness. Their sensations do justice to his memory. He
died on the night of the seventeenth inst., about ten o'clock, of
the fatal disease which has recently terminated the earthly career
of so many of the citizens of Wilkes. 'Weed his grave clean,
ye men of goodness, for he was your brother.' :
Talbot county, laid out in 1827, was named in his honor.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
penjamtn tKaltaferro.
TALIAFERRO county, Ga., commemorates the name and
fame of Benjamin Taliaferro, a native of Virginia (son of
Zachariah Taliaferro), born in 1750. His people had been
settled in Virginia from the earliest days of that colony. His
educational advantages were extremely limited and a serious
handicap to him in early life. When the Revolutionary War
came on, he joined the Continental Army as a lieutenant. In a
short time he was promoted to captain. His immediate com-
mander was the famous General Daniel Morgan. In the bitter
winter campaign of 1776 in jSTew Jersey, at the battle of Prince-
ton, his company forced a British commander to surrender.
When the English captain stepped forward in his fine uniform
and inquired for the American commander that he might give up
his sword, Captain Taliaferro felt hesitation in presenting him-
self, being without shoes or shirt and his coat far gone in decay.
However, he finally advanced and received the sword of the
brave Englishman. At the call of Washington he volunteered
for service in the southern army, and after seeing much hard
service in the southern campaigns was made prisoner by the
British at the surrender of Charleston. Discharged on his
parole, he returned to Virginia to await an exchange. In 1784
or 1785 he moved with his family to Georgia, and soon became a
prominent citizen of the State. He was sent to the State Senate
lay the people of his district and elected president of that body.
He was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1798, a
company of splendid men, who made an organic law under which
Georgia prospered for nearly three-fourths of a century. He
became a judge of the Superior Court, at that time a most im-
portant position in Georgia, as there was no Supreme Court.
He was appointed a trustee of Franklin College, now known as
the University of Georgia. He was elected a representative
from Georgia to the Sixth and Seventh Congresses, serving until
BENJAMIN TALIAFERRO. 277
1802, when he resigned. The Legislature which rescinded the
Yazoo Act paid a singularly high compliment to his integrity
by electing him judge of the Superior Court, though he was not
a lawyer.
He is said to have been a handsome man, six feet in height,
and stout in person. His army training and his later service
in public life had overcome the deficiencies of early education,
and he had acquired courteous manners and considerable infor-
mation, which, added to his natural understanding, made him
an agreeable conversationalist.
He died in Wilkes county, Ga., September 3, 1821, seventy-
one years old, and during his thirty-five years' residence in the
State no citizen of Georgia was more generally esteemed.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
Samuel lunnebp
THE REV. DR. SAMUEL KENNEDY TALMAGE, a
distinguished Presbyterian minister and an educator in
Georgia for more than thirty years, came of a distinguished
Revolutionary family, and was born at Summerville, N. J., in
1798. He graduated at Princeton in 1820, and served as tutor
there from 1822 to 1825, entered the Presbyterian ministry, and
in 1838 was elected professor of ancient languages in Oglethorpe
University, a Georgia institution under the patronage of the
Presbyterian church. He served as professor until 1841, when
he was elected president of the college and served in that
capacity until his death at Midway, Ga., on October 7, 1865,
making a period of twenty-seven years of continuous service in
that school.
Princeton University conferred upon him the degree of D.D.
in 1844. He was a regular contributor to the Southern Presby-
terian Review., and published numerous sermons and addresses.
Dr. Talmage was not only a man of high character, but of great
attainments, and distinguished native ability. He rendered to
Georgia a distinct service at a period when the educational insti-
tutions of the State needed the services of such men, though after
the Civil War during the ruck of reconstruction and the wreck
of the fortunes of the people, Oglethorpe University fell into
decay and died. The work which he did during his twenty-
seven years of service and the men whom he trained have been
of incalculable service to the State.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHES.
Craiuforb.
MAJOR JOEL CRAWFORD was born in Columbia
county, Ga., on June 15, 1783. He was a son of Captain
Charles Crawford, of the Revolutionary Army, and a
lineal descendant of David Crawford, son of John, who migrated
to America in the seventeenth century and settled in Virginia.
After the Revolutionary War, several families of the Crawfords
moved from Virginia to Georgia, and of these families at least
four members became prominent in State and Union.
Joel Crawford had the best advantages which the schools of
that day afforded and received a liberal education. He first
attended schools in Savannah and Augusta,, and then after a
period of study under Nicholas Ware, of Augusta, he repaired
to Litchfield, Conn., and attended the lectures of that distin-
guished law instructor, Judge Gould. In those days traveling-
facilities were very limited, and Major Crawford made his
trip from Georgia to Connecticut and back to Georgia on horse-
back, a trip of six weeks each way. Upon his return to Geor-
gia he began the practice of law at Sparta, in 1808, but soon
moved to Milledgeville, and was for a time in partnership with
the father of the late Justice L. Q. C. Lamar.
When the second war with Great Britain broke out, in 1812,
Mr. Crawford, a high-spirited young man, immediately joined
the army, and left home as a lieutenant in a company of
dragoons commanded by Captain Steele, in the army then serv-
ing under General John Floyd on the western frontier of Geor-
gia and operating against the Creek Indians. Lieutenant Craw-
ford was almost immediately made aide-de-camp of the com-
manding-general, with the rank of major, and under the leader-
ship of that accomplished soldier, General Floyd, they invaded
the Creek country with an army of three thousand, six hundred
men In the campaign of 1813 and 1814 Major Floyd served
with distinguished gallantry. The campaign was an arduous
280 MEN OF MARK
one during the winter of 1813-14, over the rugged country now
knowrn as North Alabama, and several successful battles were
fought with the Indians on the Tallapoosa River. In each of
these battles Major Crawford was noted for his gallantry in
action, and twice had his horse shot from under him.
At the close of the war he resumed the practice of law at Mil-
ledgeville, and served his State as a member of the lower house
in the Legislature from 1814 to 1817. He was then elected
to the Fifteenth Congress as a Democrat and reelected to the
Sixteenth Congress, but declined further election.
In the spring of 1825 he married Miss Sarah Jluffin Rhodes,
a wealthy heiress of Xorth Carolina, and thereafter devoted him-
self to his plantation and numerous slaves. In 1826 he was
appointed one of the board of commissioners to run the boundary
line between the States of Georgia and Alabama, which service
was performed to the entire satisfaction of both commonwealths.
He then practically retired from public life and devoted himself
to his numerous and growing family and his large estates, but in
1S37 he was called upon by the General Assembly to act as a
State commissioner in the erection and construction of the At-
lantic and Western Railroad, and was appointed president of the
Board of Commissioners.
In those days Major Crawford was known as a Republican
of the Jeffersonian school and a leader of the old Whig party,
at the time William Henry Harrison was elected President of
the United States. In these clavs classifications are different.
tj
and he would now be classed as a Jeffersonian Democrat. He
was the soul of honor and courage, and never hesitated to de-
nounce frauds and impostors. After a happy married life, ex-
tending over a considerable period, he was, in late middle life,
left a widower, when he sold his beautiful home in Sparta, Ga.,
and removed to one of his plantations near Blakely, Early
county, wrhere he spent the remainder of his life, and there peace-
fully passed away on April 5, 1858.
Of the large number of children born to him, only one sur-
vives at present, Mrs. M. Crawford Flewellen, of Washington,
JOEL CRAWFORD. 281
D. C. In that particular generation the Crawford family was
indeed a remarkable one, and though some members of the fam-
ily surpassed Major Crawford in the extent of their reputation,
none of them surpassed him in the qualities of devotion to duty
and patriotic citizenship.
MARGARET CRAWFORD FLEWELLEX.
OTiUtam Canbler.
COLONEL WILLIAM CANDLER, a gallant Revolution-
ary soldier, and progenitor of a family which has given
to Georgia preachers, bishops, lawyers, judges, governors,
and financiers, which to-day is perhaps the most prominent fam-
ily as a whole in. the State, was born in 1736. It can not be
definitely stated whether he was born in Ireland or in Virginia,
but the weight of evidence seems to be in favor of Virginia, a
short time after his parents came from Ireland. Though com-
ing from Ireland, his people were of English descent on the pa-
ternal side. One Lieutenant-Colonel William Gaudier went to
Ireland as an officer in Cromwell's army. He remained there,
and notwithstanding the law which prohibited intermarriage be-
tween the English settlers and the Irish, one of his descendants
married an Irish woman and came from Callan, county Kil-
kenny, Ireland, to Virginia, about 1735. He settled in Bed-
ford county, near the present city of Lynchburg, prospered, and
died in 1765. His widow, Anna Candler, survived him for
thirty years or more. Daniel Candler reared several children,
among them, Colonel William Candler. Probably there were
five sons. Some of the younger sons went prospecting into North
Carolina. William remained in Virginia, and in 1760 married
Elizabeth Anthony. About 1768, his father being then dead
for several years and the estate administered, he removed to St.
Paul's Parish, Ga., and settled in a Quaker settlement known as
Wrightsboro, in what is now McDuffie county. By 1771 he
was a prominent man in the colony. He became a captain of
the Royal Militia, under the English Government, but upon the
outbreak of the Revolutionary War, he promptly affiliated with
the patriots, and in the reorganization of the forces became a
major under the Revolutionary government. This title he held
until the early part of 1779, when at a further reorganization,
he appears to have been made a. colonel. His regiment was the
WILLIAM CANDLER. 283
upper regiment of Richmond county, while Colonel Elijah
Clarke commanded the lower regiment.
From that time on until the end of the active campaigns,
Colonel Candler's life was one of incessant activity. He ap-
pears to have been a brave, prudent and capable officer. When
the British overran the State, a majority of the patriot militia-
men refugeed beyond the borders, so that Colonel Candler's regi-
ment came to be known as the refugee regiment of Richmond
county. This regiment was an outgrowth in 1780 of the previ-
our organization. William Candler was colonel, David Robe-
son was lieutenant-colonel, and John Shields was major. Cand-
ler and Robeson survived the war, but Major Shields was killed
in battle. Henry Candler, son of William, though very young,
became major. Colonel Candler participated in the siege of
Augusta, in the Battle of Kings Mountain, in the Battle of
Blackstocks, and in the various other skirmishes and combats
which marked the closing campaign in the South. The close of
the war found him stripped of everything, practically, but his
land.
He appears to have been a man of extraordinary business
capacity, and gathering together his property and going to work
vigorously, within two years he had gotten his affairs into good
shape. When the Legislature met in January, 1784, he was
one of the members from Richmond county. This was his last
public service, and he died in July, 1784. At the time of his
death, he owned 6,000 acres of land in the counties of Richmond,
Wilkes and Washington, twenty-seven negroes, a small stock of
merchandise, forty-nine hogs, forty-seven books, furniture, etc.
The Legislature in 1789 passed a bill providing for the pay-
ment to Henry Candler, as the administrator, of a sum sufficient
to reimburse the estate for services rendered and supplies fur:
nished by Colonel Candler during the war. The most notable
feature of the inventory of his estate is the forty-seven books.
When all the conditions of the time in which he lived are taken
into consideration, he must have been quite a book-lover to have
been able to accumulate forty-seven books.
284 MEN OF MARK
Colonel Candler was said to have been a large man, of good
appearance, who always rode a fine horse and was of very cour-
teous manners. He was possessed of great energy, enterprise
and public spirit. Of his marriage with Elizabeth Anthony
there were born eleven children, ten of whom were reared to
maturity. Two of the sons, William and John, never married,
and Joseph died without issue. Colonel Candler was only
forty-eight years old at the time of his death, and his widow, who
was nearly ten years his junior, a few years after his death, mar-
ried Captain Cornelius Dysart, a veteran of the Revolutionary
War, and a member of the General Assembly of Georgia. She
survived until the year 1803 and was buried on the east side of
the Oconee River outside the city of Milledgeville. In the pres-
ent generation Colonel Candler's descendants show Congress-
men, judges, a bishop, a governor, and leading financiers of the
State.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
s Ctjappell
ABSALOM HAKKIS CI1APPELL was born in Hancock
county, Georgia, on the 18th day of December, 1801.
His father, Joseph Chappell, of Virginia lineage, died in
1807 and left the son to the guardianship of his maternal uncle,
Benjamin Harris, of Hancock county. His mother was Doro-
thy Harris, the daughter of Absalom Harris, who, in his early
manhood, had served with distinction in the Revolutionary War.
Absalom Harris Chappell was educated at the celebrated clas-
sical school at Mt. Zion, Hancock county, at the head of which
was Dr. Nathan S. S. Beman, a man of great learning and an
accomplished instructor. After graduating from that school
he read law for about two years in the office of a distinguished
lawyer of jSTew York. His law studies were completed in the
law office of Judge August in S. Clayton, of Athens, in connec-
tion with the University of Georgia. He was admitted to the
bar in 1821.
He immediately began the practice of law in Sandersville,
Washington county, Georgia, but removed, in 1824, to Forsyth,
Monroe county, where he continued in the practice about twelve
years, when he moved to Macon, Bibb county, where he remained
until, in 1858, he moved with his family to Columbus, Georgia,
where he died on December 11, 1878, having nearly completed
his seventy-seventh year.
May 31, 1842, he was married to Loretto Rebecca Lamar,
daughter of John Lamar, of Putnam county, Georgia, and sister
of Mirabeau B. Lamar, president of Texas, and of Judge Lucius
Q. C. Lamar, father of the late United States Senator and Su-
preme Court Justice L. Q. C. Lamar, of Mississippi. Five
children survived him — Mrs. Toomer, of Virginia, Lamar Chap-
pell, J. Harris Chappell, Thos. J. Chappell and Lucius H.
Chappell.
Absalom Harris Chappell, the subject of this sketch, led an
286 MEN OF MARK
active political and professional life. During his twelve years
residence in Monroe county he represented that county both in
the House and Senate of the Georgia Legislature. In 1842,
after his removal to Macon, he was elected to Congress for the
term of 1843-44, and went out with the Southern wing of the
Whig party with which he was aligned. In 1845 he was elected
to the State Senate from Bibb county and was made president
of that body. His political activities dated back to the old
Troup and Clarke parties and through the Union and States-
rights parties. He was for Troup and the Treaty and for States-
rights, and figured in many political campaigns. His political
was secondary to his professional career, which latter was suc-
cessful to a marked degree, wherein he figured in the more im-
portant litigation in his own and adjoining circuits.
He took a deep interest and actively participated in the ma-
terial, financial and educational interests of the State.
In 1836 he was a delegate to the celebrated Knoxville Conven-
tion, assembled for the purpose of devising railway communica-
tion between the Atlantic Ocean and the West. As an outcome
of the part the Georgia delegation took in this movement the
Western and Atlantic, or State road, was designed and built. So
great was the interest Mr. Chappell took in the projected enter-
prise that he rode through the country prospecting for the most
available route.
He was one of the original subscribers and promoters of the
Monroe Railroad, the first road constructed in Georgia. It is
now a part of the Central, between Macon and Atlanta.
In 1837 he was a delegate to a convention of merchants and
others of South Carolina and Georgia to promote direct trade
with foreign countries.
In 1839 he was appointed by Governor Gilrner as a commis-
sioner along with John McPherson Berrien and W. W. Holt to
arrange and digest a system of finance for the State, which com-
mission was executed in a manner highly satisfactory.
In 1849, pursuant to resolution of the General Assembly, he,
together with Bishop Elliott and Dr. Mercer, was appointed a
ABSALOM HARRIS CHAPPELL. 287
committee to report on the "Poor School" laws and to recom-
mend advisable alterations in the same.
In 1853, as chairman of a special commission appointed for
that purpose, he submitted an elaborate report on the state of
the treasury, public debt, central bank, the State road, peniten-
tiary and lunatic asylum.
He was trustee of the University of Georgia for many years,
and was a devout and active member of the Protestant Episcopal
Church.
His removal to Columbus in 1858 was with a view of retiring
from public life. He figured, however, in secession agitation
and at the close of the war, was elected as delegate from Colum-
bus to the Conservative Convention held in Macon on December
5, 1867, and was one of a special committee of five, including
H. V. Johnson and Benj. H. Hill, Warren Akin and T. L.
Guery to prepare an address to the people of Georgia and of the
United States on the political conditions.
This address was published and distributed over the State
and country. He resumed the practice of law in Columbus after
the war for a while, but much of his time was devoted to his
planting interests in Alabama.
His latter years were devoted to literary pursuits, and in
1873 he published the "Miscellanies of Georgia, Historical, Bio-
graphical, Descriptive," etc., replete with most valuable and
accurate information upon the interesting topics of which it
treats.
Absalom Harris Chappell was a man of commanding appear-
ance and of rare dignity of character and deportment, over six
feet in stature, erect, well proportioned, with features classic
and benign.
He was remarkable for his purity of mind and simplicity of
character. He was an accomplished scholar, an elegant and
forceful speaker, combining richness of voice, grace and force of
manner and elegance of diction. He was well versed in the
classics, reading Latin with the ease of his native language and
familiar with the Greek and a good French scholar. In his
288 MEN OF MARK
latter years he took up the Italian. With all this he was modest
of his own merits and never self-seeking and never sacrificed in
the least degree, principle for place. Whatever of office or dis-
tinction he attained was by pure force of character and ability,
as recognized by those among whom he lived and labored.
THOMAS J. CHAPPELL.
5n.gr aTed "by J
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f ofm
GEOEGIA has had many orators and diplomats, but
among them none was endowed with greater gifts of per-
suasion than John Forsyth. He was born in Frederick
county, Virginia, about the year 1781. His father moved to
Georgia when the subject of this sketch was but four years of age,
adding another memorable family to the many who came from
Virginia after the Revolution to seek homes in Georgia. Young
Forsyth grew up in the surroundings of a rural home as many
others had done, going to an academy in Wilkes county in charge
of a Rev. Mr. Springer.
When he was old enough, following the customs of many
Georgia youths, he went to Princeton College, and graduated in
1799. His early inclination was for the law, which profession
he studied in Augusta under Mr. jSToel. He was admitted to
the bar in 1802. His success was rapid, rising to the position
of attorney-general in 1808 and being elected to Congress in
1812. From this position he was elevated to the United States
Senate in 1815 and his wonderful career as a statesman was
fully begun.
The first event that brought him into national notice was his
successful manipulation of the treaty between the United States
and Spain, by which the territory of Florida was added to our
general domain. A treaty had already been concluded between
the two governments in 1819 by which Spain ceded Florida to
the United States and the United States ceded Spain all claims
to the territory west of the Sabine, and agreed to pay four mil-
lion dollars for the equivalent of the value of the territory ex-
changed.
Spain had agreed to use this money in satisfying certain losses
that had been sustained by the citizens of the United States by
the depredations of Spanish cruisers more than twenty years be-
fore, which claims had been acknowledged by the Spanish gov-
19
290 MEN OF MARK
ernment as far back as 1802. Another article conceded the con-
firming of titles to grants of land made before the treaty be-
tween the two countries was proposed. Since then there was a
question about the validity of the dates of many of these titles,
and as it was supposed that large tracts of territory had been
granted after the treaty and the dates were fixed, so as to appear
before the treaty, it required great address to bring the matters
to a proper adjustment.
President Monroe selected Senator Forsyth for this delicate
mission. He went at once to Spain and though it required four
years to untangle the skein, yet by his skillful address, polished
manners and adroit diplomacy he finally succeeded in bringing
all matters to a satisfactory adjustment between the two nations.
Never has this country had a more finished courtier to a foreign
country. Forsyth was qualified by his patience, his exquisite
deportment, his eloquence and persuasiveness, to act in this try-
ing condition of international policies as no other man of the
time could have acted.
Upon the satisfactory conclusion of this treaty, Forsyth was
elected to Congress in 1823, where he remained until 1827. At
that time the State was divided into two great political factions,
known as the Troup party and the Clarke party. For years the
people had been divided between the policies of George M.
Troup, the intrepid leader of States-rights doctrine, and his
great antagonist, Gen. John Clarke. Forsyth was an ardent
supporter of Governor Troup, and in Congress was an able advo-
cate of the Governor's demands for the removal of the Indians
from the State of Georgia.
The demand on the part of Georgia arose out of an agree-
ment made in 1802 between the State and the general govern-
ment, at the time that the territory of Alabama and Mississippi
was ceded to the United States, in return for which they agreed
to remove Indians from the soil of Georgia as soon as it "could
be done peaceably and on reasonable terms." Twenty-five years
passed and the Indians had not been removed. The United
States hesitated and Troup insisted. Finally it came to an
JOHN FORSYTE. 293
There were no hurry, uo breaks, no discords or accidents, in that
constant stream of pure vocalization. The listener had no dread
of failure. He beheld glittering landscapes, and a rich pano-
rama of city refinement and rural simplicity, set off by the soft-
est music, all teeming from the magic skill of the orator."
At the end of the discussion, however, the resolutions of Mr.
Forsyth were rejected, whereupon he and fifty other delegates
withdrew from the convention. The remaining delegates form-
ulated resolutions declaring the tariff acts unconstitutional and
void, but these resolutions were not received with favor. The
Legislature strongly opposed the acts of the convention and ad-
vised the people "not to give their votes on the resolutions of
the convention," and as strongly condemned the doctrine of nul-
lification as "neither a peaceful nor a constitutional remedy
but, on the contrary, as tending to civil commotion and dis-
union.'
Senator Forsyth continued the firm defender of President
Jackson in his administration. The removal of the public de-
posits from the Bank of the United States, the dismissal of
Duane as Secretary of State, the controversy with Congress, all
bitter and stirring questions drew Forsyth into the arena, his
sword bared for the conflict of giants. In the controversy be-
tween the President and the Senate, and after the passage of the
measure censuring his conduct, Forsyth stood forth the un-
daunted, ever ready and all powerful champion of the President.
He was prepared for every onset and won laurels in every con-
test. It was a notable and crucial epoch in our national history,
and Forsyth exhibited powers in debate and skill in argument
that the hall of the Senate had rarely seen equaled.
Forsyth was now a man of national repute. President Jack-
son appointed him Secretary of State, in place of Louis McLane,
resigned. His nomination was confirmed by the Senate June
27, 183-i. For seven years he held this high office, during the
remainder of Jackson's term and until Van Buren retired in
March, 1841. Here his signal ability as a diplomatist and
statesman was displayed at his best. His communications were
294 MEN OF MARK
scholarly and won the admiration of his countrymen as well as
the courts of Europe.
With the election of General Harrison, John Forsyth passed
off the stage of public affairs. The hero of Tippecanoe died
one month after he was inaugurated, and October 21, 1841,
John Forsyth also passed away in his sixtieth year, still in the
prime of his power and with his great popularity undirninished.
For many years Richmond county had been his home, and to-
day may still be seen the house in which he lived. It stands in
a grove on the hill overlooking the city of Augusta, and is one of
the many historic spots of that venerable city.
We can not close this memoir better than by a sketch of For-
syth taken from "The Cabinet — Past and Present."
''The late John Forsyth was one of the most accomplished
men of his time. As an impromptu debater, to bring on an action
or to cover a retreat, he never had his superior. He was acute,
witty, full of resources, and ever prompt — impetuous as Murat
in a charge, adroit as Soult when flanked and outnumbered.
He was haughty in the presence of enemies, affable and win-
ning among friends. His manners were courtly and diplo-
matic. In the time of Louis XIV, he would have rivaled the
most celebrated courtiers; under the dynasty of Napoleon he
would have won the baton of France. He never failed to com-
mand the confidence of his party ; he never feared any odds ar-
rayed against it, and at one crisis was almost the most bril-
liant and formidable opposition ever organized against an
administration."
LAWTON B. EVANS.
Robert JffltUebge Cfjariton.
ROBERT MILLEDGE CHARLTOjST was born in Sa-
vannah, Ga., on January 19, 1807, and died there on
January 18, 1854. In his forty-seven years of life he
compressed an amount of splendid work, both in private life
and in public service, which has left his name high up on the
roster of distinguished citizens of Georgia. He was a son of
Judge Thomas Usher Pulaski Charlton and his first wife, Emily
Walter. His grandfather, Thomas Walter, of South Carolina,
was the author of "Flora Caroliniana," one of the early and
most valuable contributions to Southern botany. Robert M.
Charlton, in addition to receiving the most liberal education
obtainable, had the very great advantage of association with a
father who was one of the foremost men of his day. Admitted
to the bar before he was of legal age, at the age of twenty-one
(like his father before him) , he was elected to the State Legisla-
ture. At twenty-three he was appointed United States district
attorney by President Jackson, and at twenty-eight became judge
of the Eastern Judicial Circuit. His father had served six terms
as mayor of Savannah, and perhaps no honor which came to the
younger Charlton during his life was so highly appreciated by
him as his first election to the office of mayor of Savannah, at
the age of thirty-two, and he subsequently served two other
terms. He thus tracked along in the way that his father had
traveled before him. Charlton street in Savannah was named
in honor of his father shortly after his death, and Charlton
county in South Georgia also perpetuates the family name. At
the age of forty-four, in the year 1852, he succeeded his dis-
tinguished townsman, John McPherson Berrien, in the United
States Senate, and while holding that position was honored with
the appointment as a trustee of the Smithsonian Institution, at
Washington. He was among the incorporators of the Georgia
Historical Society, and to him is chiefly due the existence of the
Episcopal Orphans' Home.
296 MEN OF MARK
Judge Charlton did an enormous amount of work in his com-
paratively short life. His reputation at the bar was second to
that of no lawyer of his day, and his legal work will bear the
tests of the most exacting criticisms. The legal firm with which
he was associated and of which he was the head built up a very
large practice. In addition to his legal work and his public
service he was a man of fine literary tastes, with strong poetic
tendencies, and rested himself in the intervals of his labor by
literary work, such as contributions to the Knickerbocker,
the leading magazine of that day, and by the publication of
poems, which he finally gathered together into a volume, in-
cluding a few written by his brother, Dr. Thomas Jackson
Charlton, who died at the early age of thirty, a man of the most
brilliant promise. Judge Charlton's "Sketches of Court and
Circuit Life" give full play to that kindly humor which was the
delight of his friends. In 1838 he published a volume of Geor-
gia Reports, and his sou, himself a distinguished lawyer, in
quoting some brief extracts from that work, draws out that sense
of humor, strong common sense, and exact equity, which distin-
guished his father and has a strong likeness to the work of that
distinguished jurist, Chief Justice Joseph Henry Lumpkin.
Judge Charlton was a man of strong religious spirit, and his
kindliness of disposition was a proverb among those who knew
him. At the age of twenty-two, he married Miss Margaret
Shick, of Savannah, daughter of Peter Shick, and granddaugh-
ter of John Shick, one of the famous colony of Salzburgers, in
Efringham county, and a veteran of the Revolution, who lost an
arm at the siege of Savannah in 1779, while a soldier in the
Continental line. Ten children were born of this marriage.
Five of them died in childhood. Of the other five, Mary Mar-
shall married Julien Hartridge; Thomas Marshall died un-
married ; Robert Milledge, Jr., after serving as a faithful soldier
of the Confederacy during the entire period of the Civil War,
died unmarried one year after the close of the war. Margaret
married Charles P. Hansell, of Georgia ; and Walter Glasco
Charlton, the present male representative of the family and a
ROBERT MILLEDGE CHARLTON. 297
leading citizen and lawyer of Savannah, married Mary Walton
Johnston, a daughter of that famous Georgian, Eichard Mal-
colm Johnston. Thomas U. Charlton and his no less distin-
guished sou, Judge Robert M. Charlton, contributed faithful
and valuable work in the days when the commonwealth of Geor-
gia was beginning to be an important unit in this great repub-
lic, and the memory of them is a precious possession to the pres-
ent citizenship of the Empire State of the South.
BERNARD SUTTLER.
Hsfyer -pulasfet Cftarlton.
PROMIXEXT among the long line of brilliant men who
made the first half of the nineteenth century such a noted
period in the history of Georgia was Thomas Usher
Pulaski Charlton, of Savannah. Judge Chaiiton was born in
Carnden, S. C., in November, 1779. His father, Thomas
Charlton, was a native of Maryland, and married Lucy Kenan,
a native of North Carolina. On the paternal side the family
came to America from Shropshire, England, and is said to have
been a branch of the Northumberland county family of the same
name. It first settled in Maryland, and members of the family
were quite prominent in that colony, one member notably, hav-
ing been appointed by the Governor of Maryland to hold the
Mason and Dixon's line against Pennsylvania. Thomas Charl-
ton, the father of Judge Charlton, was a physician, and the
eldest son of Arthur Charlton. He joined the Revolutionary
Army in South Carolina in 1775, and served both as a surgeon
and a lieutenant of the line. After his retirement from the serv-
ice, he served as a member of the Legislature of South Caro-
lina. After his death his widow moved to Savannah, in 1791,
and there Judge Charlton was reared and educated.
He was admitted to the bar in 1800. At twenty-one he was
a member of the State Legislature, and at twenty-five years of
age was attorney-general of the State. At twenty-nine, he be-
came judge of the Eastern Circuit. He was an intimate friend
of General James Jackson, and also of Governor Milledge. He
was General Jackson's literary executor, and in 1808 published
a life of that distinguished soldier and statesman. Six times
he served as mayor of Savannah, was chairman of the Commit-
tee of Public Safety in the War of 1812, and in 1825 served on
the committee which compiled the statutes of Georgia. A
prominent Mason, he served as Grand Master of the State.
He was married twice. His first wife was a daughter of
THOMAS USHER PULASKI CHARLTON. 299
Thomas Walter, of South Carolina, who published a valuable
botanical work entitled "Flora Caroliniana." His second wife
was Ellen Glasco. His children were all born of the first mar-
riage, and but two arrived at years of maturity, Thomas Jack-
son and Robert Milledge. Robert Milledge attained great promi-
nence during his life, and his son, Walter Glasco Charlton, is
now one of the leading members of the bar of Georgia.
Judge Charlton died December 14, 1835, leaving behind him
a spotless record, both in his private life and in his public serv-
ice, and was recognized by his generation as a man of the most
eminent ability and devoted patriotism. He was interred at
Savannah, where three generations of the family now rest.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
Cfjurcf).
EV. DR. ALOXZO CHURCH, sixth president of the
University of Georgia, was born in Brattleboro, Vt.,
April 9, 1793, son of Reuben and Elizabeth (Whipple)
Church. His grandfather, Timothy Church, was an officer in
the French War, colonel in the Revolutionary War, and promi-
nent in the disturbances between the colonies of Xew York and
Vermont. In that controversy he took sides with Xew York
and in consequence was imprisoned by Ethan Allen, the leader
of the Yermonters. Dr. Church's father, Reuben Church,
served as a lieutenant in the Revolutionary armies and after the
war found himself in impoverished circumstances. Compelled
to rear his family on a small Vermont farm, young Alonzo
found the procuring of an education a difficult matter, but he
struggled along, entered Middlebury College, supporting him-
self between sessions by teaching, and graduated with honor in
1816. The severe climate of Vermont appearing dangerous
to lungs not over-strong, he migrated to Georgia and opened a
classical school at Eatonton. He became known as a classical
teacher, and in 1819 was elected professor of mathematics in
the University of Georgia. He held this position for ten years^
until 1829, when on the resignation of Dr. Moses Waddell from
the presidency he was elected to that position, which he held for
thirty years, and resigned in 1859 on account of impaired health
and advancing years.
Dr. Church thus gave forty years of service to the University,
at a period when the educational interests of Georgia needed the
services of just such a man. He was ordained a Presbyterian
minister in 1824, and throughout his life was influential in his
church. He never held a regular pastoral charge, but gave his
services free to poor churches near Athens, often going many
miles on Sunday, after a hard week in college work, to preach
the gospel to people who were too poor to support a minister.
ALONZO CHURCH 301
Among the distinguished men graduating under his presidency
were Alexander Stephens, Robert Toombs, Benjamin H. Hill,
Howell Cobb and Herschel V. Johnson. While a stern disci-
plinarian, he was tactful in administration, and though ready to
administer justice when necessary, he was never accused of
being unjust. At all times courteous and urbane in manner,
he gained the reputation of being the Chesterfield of Georgia.
During his administration the number of graduates in any year
never fell below twelve, and in one year reached thirty-five.
One of the buildings, which included the library and part of the
apparatus, being destroyed by fire, the Legislature gave six thou-
sand dollars with which to replace the property destroyed, and
the needs being urgent continued this appropriation until 1821.
So capable was his administration that he was able at one period
to erect four buildings in four years at a cost of $39,000. When
it is considered the Legislature gave but little help and that the
University in those days had an uncertain income, this is a con-
spicuous comment upon Dr. Church's financial ability. From
1801, when John Milledge made a donation of lands, until 1854
there were no private donations to the University, but in the
last named year Dr. William Terrell, of Hancock county, gave
$20,000 to the University, with which was established a chair
of agriculture. Dr. Church was in effect the last president of
the University, because after his retirement the title was
changed to chancellor in 1860 and President Lipscomb became
Chancellor Lipscomb.
He was as devoted and loyal to Georgia and the educational
interests of the State as though he had been born within its
borders, and to this date his memory is loved and honored as
one of the men who contributed most largely to the upbuilding
of the moral and intellectual status of the Commonwealth.
On his retirement from the presidency he withdrew to his small
homestead near Athens, where he died on May 18, 1862, sixty-
nine years of age. His son, Alonzo W. Church, who was gradu-
ated under his administration in 1847, became librarian of the
United States Senate. COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
2|enrp lumpfein.
CHIEF JUSTICE JOSEPH HENRY LUMPKOT is
one of the great figures in Georgia history. A man of a
family which for four generations has given strong,
clean, brilliant and patriotic men to the service of the State, it
is now agreed, forty years after his death, that he was one of the
few greatest American judges, and it is a source of pride to
every Georgian that such a man was a native of her soil.
He was born in Ogiethorpe county, on December 23, 1799,
the seventh son of John and Lucy (Hopson) Lumpkin, and died
at Athens, Ga., on June 4, 1867. He attended the University
of Georgia, and graduated from Princeton College in 1819, read
law under the Hon. Thomas W. Cobb, and was admitted to the
bar at Lexington, Ga., in 1820. In 1824 he was a member of
the General Assembly. In 1833, in connection with John H.
Cuthbert and William Schley (later Governor of Georgia) he
framed the State penal code. From his entry upon the practice
of his profession, Governor Lumpkin's reputation as a lawyer
steadily grew.
In 1845 the Legislature created the State Supreme Court.
He was at that time in Europe, and without his knowledge or
consent, he was elected one of the three judges of the State Su-
preme Court, and by common consent of his associates, became
chief justice. He was reelected three different times, and
served continuously until his death, a period of about twenty-
two years. He declined a professorship in the University of
Georgia, the position of Chancellor of the University, and a
United States judgeship. Princeton College conferred upon
him in 1851 the degree of LL.D. During nearly all his active
life he taught law students in his office, and in this way con-
tributed immensely to the improvement of the quality of the
legal profession in the State.
Judge Lumpkin's cry was always justice. The technical!-
JOSEPH HENRY LUMPKIN. 303
ties of the law had for him no attraction; equity was what he
stood for. His decisions are monuments of wisdom, learning
and equity. He was an ardent advocate of temperance, of re-
form, an elder in the Presbyterian church, and a man of the
most exemplary life.
In February, 1821, he married at Savannah, Ga., Callender
C. Greve, a native of Edinburgh, Scotland. They had several
children. One of his grandsons, Samuel Lumpkin, served on the
Supreme Bench, and another grandson, Joseph Henry Lump-
kin, the younger, is now one of the most distinguished members
of the Supreme Court of Georgia. Though some of the facts
already stated are repeated, we append an appreciation of him
delivered by one of his distinguished successors, Chief Justice
Logan E. Bleckley, in February, 1892, as the best expression
of Judge Lumpkin's character and work ever given out :
"Judge Lumpkin was a native of Oglethorpe county, and was
born December 23, 1799. His collegiate education, begun at
the University of Georgia, was concluded at Princeton, iST. J.,
where he graduated with honor in 1819. He studied law under
the tuition of Judge Thomas W. Cobb, at Lexington, Ga., and
was admitted to practice in 1820. For two years (1824, 1825)
he represented his native county in the Legislature. He was
one of the three commissioners who framed the Penal Code
of 1833. His career at the bar was successful from the be-
ginning, and was continued with wide and brilliant reputation
up to 1844, when failing health induced a voyage to Europe
and a sojourn there for one year. He has been heard to say
that what he most enjoyed while abroad was a visit to the tomb
of Virgil. His own classic taste and culture had filled him with
affectionate reverence for the illustrious Roman bard. With
restored health he returned home, but he never resumed practice,
for in December, 1845, the Legislature enacted a law to organize
the Supreme Court and elected him to a place on the bench, and
with him Warner and Nisbet. His first judicial service was at
Cassville in March, 1846, and his last at Milledgeville in De-
cember, 1866. He delivered the first opinion in the first vol-
304 MEN OF MARK
lime and the last in the thirty-fifth volume of the Georgia
Eeports.
"He was long a trustee of the University of Georgia, and in
1846 was elected to the chair of rhetoric and oratory in that
institution, but declined it. Afterwards, the University having
opened a law department under the name of the Lumpkin Law
School, he lectured and taught as law professor until the war
came and the students exchanged books for guns.
"In 1865 the President of the United States tendered him a
seat on the Federal bench as one of the judges of the Court of
Claims. He declined this offer because he preferred to remain
in the judicial service of Georgia. For the same reason he
declined an election as Chancellor of the University in 1860.
The acceptance of that onerous and responsible position would
have necessitated his retirement from the Supreme Bench.
While still in office as Chief Justice, he died at his home in
Athens, on the 4th day of June, 1867. He obtained judicial
station without seeking it, and retained it continuously for over
twenty-one years without competition.
"It would be difficult, to imagine a finer specimen of physical,
intellectual and moral manhood than was Joseph Henry Lump-
kin. To form and finish him, there was a rare and happy con-
currence of nature, education and divine grace. He had a
musical individuality, a melody of character. His voice blend-
ing strength with sweetness, symbolized the man. His expres-
sive face was a poem in vigorous and harmonious prose. It
suggested truth and beauty consecrated to goodness. Of these
traits which broaden and elevate humanity, not one was wanting.
His religion was Calvinistic, but softened by a spirit of universal
benevolence. Could he have controlled election by his human
sympathy, every soul would have been a candidate for immortal
bliss, and every candidate would have been elected. Of all
the forces that swayed him, religion, the double impulse of duty
and devotion, was the strongest. First, and before all else, he
rendered to God obedience and affection. His work as philan-
thropist, as lawyer, as magistrate, was colored and dominated
JOSEPH HENRY LUMPKIN. 305
by religious feeling. At the bar and on the bench he was the
priest engaged in expounding or in administering law. To him
law and gospel were inseparable ; the new legal testament was
a necessary supplement to the old.
"He won eminent distinction in both fields of professional
service, first in that of advocate and next in that of judge. To
portray him as an advocate, I borrow from the vivid delineation
which Judge Harris, his friend and associate, has left us in the
thirty-sixth volume of the Georgia Reports :
" 'In early manhood he was distinguished by manly beauty.
The contour of the face was highly intellectual, the forehead
high, broad and fully exposed. He had dark gray eyes, restless
and constantly varying in expression, and a quivering lip. A
physiognomist would have been delighted to meet with a subject
in whom the ideal of the personnel of the orator would be so
nearly realized. His voice was clear and melodious — a rich
baritone — obedient to his will and modulated with consummate
art, so that it continued to charm by its cadence so long as he
spoke, and at no time exhibited strain or inequality. This
control over it was doubtless owing very much to the distinctness
of his articulation of each syllable of a word, and marked
emphasis. He used little gesture, but it was graceful and ex-
pressive; his attitude was adapted with care to the theme and
occasion. Add to these personal, and, I might with propriety
call them external, qualifications, his large encyclopedic knowl-
edge, gathered from libraries of law and literature, and we can
begin to make some estimate of the resources from which his
oratory was supplied. Indeed, it may be said without exagger-
ation, that learning waited on him as a handmaid, presenting at
all times for his choice and use all that antiquity had not lost,
all that a prolific press has disseminated. With a vivid imagi-
nation quick to body forth the creations of the mind, his speeches
at the bar abounded in imagery; but it was not sought for or
culled from a commonplace book to dazzle or adorn. It sprung
up spontaneously from the exuberance of a mind heated with
20
306 MEN OF MARK
thought ; his tropes were the corruscations of the glowing axle
in rapid motion, shedding a brilliant light over the pathway of
reason *. His imagery was drawn from the remem-
bered bright and golden thoughts of Shakespeare and Milton,
from the sacred poetry of Job and David, the wisdom of Solo-
mon, and of the son of Sirach, and from the prophetic inspi-
rations of Ezekiel and Isaiah — in a word, from the whole Bible.
Most aptly were his illustrations culled from such a garner, and
woven into the fabric of his speeches. It required a person of
his precise mental constitution, of unaffected and humble piety
and cultivate d taste, to employ this high poetic thought and wis-
dom without irreverence ; and this was done with such marvelous
skill that even hypercriticism did not venture to condemn.'
"As a judge, he is the seer of the Georgia bench. He dis-
covered, organized and developed those gems of our law which
have inherent vitality, and which require no artificial aid to
enable them to live. He devoted himself to the labor of stripping
off shucks or shell or whatever might conceal the core of natural
justice, which he w:is sure lies in the true law when not cankered
by technicality or by harmful legislation. In this work he
was the leader and conductor, though it is not to be denied that
he was greatly aided by his able but more conservative associates.
One or both of them stood by him in nearly every instance. He
delivered but one dissenting opinion in the first twenty volumes
of the reports, and none at all in the first nineteen volumes.
From the start, the Court as a whole was liberal and progressive.
"Judge Lumpkin's judicial career was the consistent outcome
of his mental and moral characteristics. By nature he was a
reformer, and he had all the zeal and daring of his convictions.
He saw evil and abuses with the clear eye of inspiration, and
was for sweeping them away with the besom of destruction. No
man had more veneration, but he would not squander it on
antiquated trifles. He could not venerate the trivial merely be-
cause it was hoary with age ; on the contrary, his contempt for
it was the greater, because it had presumed to exist so long. He
JOSEPH HENRY LUMPKIN. 307
was indignant that anything which was unworthy to be law
should hesitate to give up the ghost.
"From Judge Lumpkin we have, I should say in a rough esti-
mate, about two thousand published opinions. Many of them
are worthy of his fame ; they are clear, strong, forcible and full
of legal meat. But quite a large proportion were hastily and
carelessly written, and afford no just ideal of his wonderful gifts.
Even the best are inferior to the oral opinions which he de-
livered from the bench, in everything but the citation and dis-
cussion of authorities. His literary power was in vocal utter-
ance. In the spoken word he was a literary genius far surpass-
ing any other Georgian, living or dead, I have ever known.
Indeed, from 110 other mortal lips have I heard such harmonious
and sweet sounding sentences as came from his. Those who
never saw and heard him can not be made to realize what a
great master he was.
"He so blended gentleness with justice, that since he has
joined the immortals, he may be idealized as our Judicial
Bishop enthroned in Georgia skies."
BEENARD SUTTLEK.
Humpfutt
JOHN HENRY LUMPKIN was born in Oglethorpe county,
Ga., June 13, 1812. After obtaining primary education he
first attended Franklin College, now the State University,
and later Yale College, Conn. At the conclusion of his classical
studies, he studied law, was admitted to the bar, and began
practice at Rome, in 1834. In 1835 he was elected a member
of the General Assembly. In 1838, being then only twenty-six
years old, he was elected solicitor-general of the Cherokee Cir-
cuit. He served in this capacity for several years, and in 1843
was elected to the Twenty-eighth Congress as a Democrat. He
was reelected to the Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth Congresses,
and after an interval of six years, came back as a repre-
sentative to the Thirty-fourth Congress in 1855, making a total
service of eight years. He also served as judge of the Superior
Court for his circuit. He had by this time acquired considerable
reputation in the State as a strong and able man, and had before
him a bright outlook as a public man, when he died at his home
in Rome, Ga., on June 6, 1860, at the age of forty-eight years.
Mr. Lumpkin was a member of that celebrated family, which,
for more than one hundred years, has in each generation given
to Georgia some of her strongest men, congressmen, lawyers and
judges. His near relative, Joseph Henry Lumpkin, is known
as the "Great Chief Justice," being the first Chief Justice of
the Supreme Court of the State, and holding that office for
twenty-two years until his death. A grand-nephew, Joseph
Henry Lumpkin, the younger, is now on the Supreme Bench
and recognized as inheriting a full share of the family ability.
John Henry Lumpkin was a strong candidate for the Demo-
cratic nomination for Governor in 1857. The Convention got
into a deadlock and finally compromised on Joseph E. Brown.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
>mttf) Clapton.
AUGUSTUS" SMITH CLAYTON, for whom Clayton
county was named, was the fourth child of Philip and
Mildred (Dixon) Clayton, and was born in Virginia,
November 27, 1783. When a very small boy he became a stu-
dent at Richmond Academy, Augusta, Ga., to which State his
parents had removed, and later came under the tuition of that
distinguished lawyer and statesman, William H. Crawford.
While a student of the Eichmond Academy, before he was eight
years old, he made a speech before General Washington, at that
time President, which so pleased the general that he presented
him with a copy of "Sallust." The inscription reads, "The pre-
mium of the President of the United States to Augustin Smith
Clayton, a student of Richmond Academy, as a memorial of his
esteem and a premium due merit, presented at his request by
R. C. Forsyth, A. B. Baldwin, Birthday 1792." There is a
picture of General Washington pasted in the book, which is still
a cherished possession of Judge Clayton's descendants. He
entered Franklin College, now known as the University of Geor-
gia, and was a member of its graduating class, in 1804. Leav-
ing college, he entered the law office of Judge Thomas Carnes,
and was admitted to the bar at Washington, Ga., in 1806.
Judge Clayton was a man of immense industry and most cordial
and affable manners. This combination brought him a con-
stantly increasing array of clients.
Shortly after his admission to the bar he married Miss Julia
Carnes, and in less than four years after his graduation he
removed to Athens with his wife and his baby boy, and estab-
lished himself in the practice of his profession at that place,
which became his home for the remainder of his life. In 1810
he was appointed by the Georgia Assembly to compile the
statutes of Georgia from 1800. This work, the giving of which
to so young a man was a high compliment, was done promptly
and with ability. In 1810-11 he served as a member of the lower
310 MEN OF MARK
house of the Georgia Legislature. In 1812 he served in the
Georgia State Senate. In 1813-14-15 he was clerk of the
Legislature. Between these intervals of public service he was
extremely active in the practice of law, and his clientage con-
stantly grew. In 1819 he was elected judge of the Western
Circuit, reelected in 1822, served until 1825, was then out of
office until 1828, when he was again reelected judge of the
Western Circuit. He was a member of the Electoral College in
1829. In 1831, while yet on the bench, he was nominated and
elected member of Congress from Georgia and served two terms.
His service in the House of Representatives at Washington
speedily brought him into prominence, and he was recognized
as a man of ability and force. All his life long he was pro-
foundly devoted to the interests of the University of Georgia,
a member of its board of trustees and secretary of the board
up to the time of his death. It is said of him that no man who
ever served in that capacity had such a talent for smoothing over
difficulties between students and faculty, and for preserving
harmonious relations in every department of the school. Katur-
ally a kind-hearted man, gifted with agreeable mariners, and
cordial to every one, during his life he was second to no man in
the State in personal popularity. As a jurist and statesman he
was both able and fearless ; as an orator he was strong, logical
and eloquent. In the intervals of his leisure he indulged in
literature, and under the name of Wrangham Fitz-Ixamble pub-
lished "The Mysterious Picture," which attracted considerable
attention at that time, and also published "The Life of David
Crockett, by Himself." Aside from these books he was the
author of many essays and pamphlets. The election of Governor
Troup in one of the fierce contests of that period to the office
of Governor was credited to a series of articles appearing in the
Georgia Journal and Gazette of that time, signed "Atticus,"
which were written by Judge Clayton. He was, perhaps, the
most prominent citizen of Athens during his life, and his name
is inseparably associated with the early history of that town
and University. Possibly no work of his life gave him so much
AUGUSTIN SMITH CLAYTON. 311
pleasure and served so useful a purpose as his connection with
the University. His good temper and sagacity were unfailing,
and whatever the trouble he always managed to reestablish
good order and obedience to law.
For fifteen years of his early life in Athens he was the only
lawyer and prevented much litigation by reconciling the parties
through his friendly offices. Outside of his profession and the
University he was alive to the material interests of the town
and was one of the company which first introduced machinery
for the manufacture of cotton goods in the South. A man of
Judge Clayton's capacity and foresight could not fail to see the
benefits that would accrue to the State from the building of
railroads, and he was, therefore, one of the original members of
the committee that secured the charter for the building of the
Georgia Railroad, and was a member of its first directory.
YvThile in Congress he was very active and made a notable fight
upon the United States Bank, which was at that time a burning-
issue. In that matter he established his reputation, not only as
an able debater, but as an investigator who went to the bottom
of the subject in hand. He voluntarily retired from Congress
in 1835, and again confined himself to his practice. In 1838 he
had an attack of paralysis, from which he partially recovered.
In these later years he investigated the evidences of Christianity
and became so strongly impressed that he united with the Meth-
odist church and gave strong testimony to the truth and suf-
ficiency of the Christian religion.
He never fully recovered from the attack of paralysis, and
died on the twenty-first day of June, 1839, at his home in
Athens, Ga., and now rests in Oconee Cemetery under a monu-
ment erected by the devoted companion of a quarter of a century.
Besides his widow, he left eight surviving children, four sons
and four daughters. Judge Clayton died at the early age of
fifty-six, during some thirty-three years of which he had been
in active professional and public life in the State of Georgia.
He left behind him the memory of an able, honest, fearless and
public spirited patriot. A B CALDWELL.
®uncan Hamont Clinch
G EX K UAL DUX CAN" LAMOXT CLINCH, who for the
last thirty years of his life was a citizen of Georgia, was
born at Ard-Lamont, Edgecombe county, X. C., on April
6, 1787., son of Joseph and Mary (Laniont) Clinch. That he
came of pioneer stock is evidenced by the fact that his grand-
father and father both fought in the War of the Kevolution, and
the family must, therefore, have been settled in Xorth Carolina
for several generations. The Clinch River and Clinch Valley
in southwestern Virginia and eastern Tennessee probably bear
testimony to the early settlement of the family in that section.
The records show that his father, Joseph Clinch, became a first-
lieutenant in the Revolutionary Army, on April 22, 1776, and
\vas called the "Terror of the Tories."
Duncan L. Clinch entered the regular army of the United
States with the n.nmiission of first-lieutenant in the newly
organized Third infantry, on July 1, 1808. He was stationed
with his command at Xew Orleans in 1809-10, was promoted to
captain December 31, 1810, and transferred with his company
to Baton Rouge, where he was stationed from 1811 to 1813.
OH August 4, 1813, he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel and
transferred to the Tenth infantry. During that year he com-
manded six companies of his regiment at Champlain on the
northern front ier, and later was in command of the First brigade,
first division of the northern army, at Camp Lake Erie, near
Buffalo. On May 17, 1815, he wa* transferred to the Fourth
infantry, and then served with his regiment for several years
in Xorth Carolina and Georgia. It was probably at this period
that he acquired property in the State and became a citizen of
Georgia. On April 20, 1819, he was promoted to full colonel
and placed in command of the eastern section of the Seventh
military department, division of the South, with headquarters
at Fernandina, Fla., later at St. Mary's, Ga. From that date
DUNCAN LAM 0 NT CLINCH. 313
until 1832 he was in active command of his regiment, the
Fourth infantry, at various posts in Florida, and during that-
period, on April 20, 1829, he was brevetted brigadier-general
for ten years of faithful service in one grade. In 1832 he was
detailed on court-martial duty, at Baton Rouge, La., and Jef-
ferson Barracks, Mo. He then resumed the command of his
regiment at Baton Rouge, and was transferred to Mobile Point,
Ala. In what is known as the First Seminole war he took a
prominent part and destroyed the place known as the "negro
fort," killing two hundred and seventy Indians and negro refu-
gees. In the second Seminole war, which broke out in 1835,
sometimes spoken of as the Seven Years War, he was in com-
mand of the operations during 1835 and part of 1836. On
December 31, 1835, with only two hundred regulars and four
hundred and sixty volunteers he routed the enemy on the With-
lacoochie river after a fierce battle, in which he lost only four
killed and fifty-nine wounded. This was the first check given
to the Indians after the struggle began, and only a -few days
after the frightful catastrophe which had overtaken Major Dade
and his command. Disgusted at the treatment accorded him
by the War Department and the lack of support, which made it
impossible for him to make his plans effective, he resigned from
the army in September, 1836, and settled on his plantation near
St. Mary's, Ga.
When John Millen, a member of the Twenty-eighth Congress
died about the first of 184-4, General Clinch was elected as a
Whig to fill the vacancy, and served from February 15, 1844, to
March 3, 1845, as a member of the Federal House of Repre-
sentatives.
He was three times married. In 1819 he married Eliza
Bayard Mackintosh, a daughter of John Houston Mackintosh.
Of this marriage were born five sons and three daughters, of
whom at this time no complete record can be obtained. One of
his daughters, Eliza, married Major Robert Anderson, of the
regular army, who was in command at Fort Sumter when the
Civil War broke out and was later a general in the Federal army.
314 MEN OF MARK
Another daughter, Katherine Maria, married Barnwell Hey-
ward, of South Carolina, and became the mother of Duncan
Clinch Heyward, a late governor of that State. General Clinch's
first wife died in 1835, and he married her cousin, Elizabeth
Houston. After her death he married a third time, Mrs. Sophie
H. (Gibbs) Couper. He died in Macon, Ga., on October 28,
18-19. General Clinch's army record shows that he was a capa-
ble soldier for, within eleven years he was promoted from lieu-
tenant to colonel, which rank he attained at the early age of
thirty-two.
A letter is extant written by him on the twenty-third of July,
1821, to Matthew Talbot, at that time one of the leading men
of Georgia, in which General Clinch asks Mr. Talbot, who was
a strong personal friend, to convey to the public the fact that he
could not accept a nomination tendered him for the office of
governor of the State of Georgia. As at that time he was only
a man of thirty-four it is clear that he must have been of a
superior order of ability to have gained such recognition in a
State where he had been for so short a time a citizen. In 1852,
the Legislature of Georgia created a new county in the southern
part of the State, which was named in his honor, and is now in
area the largest county of the State.
All the information obtainable shows that General Clinch was
a soldierly man with clear ideas on governmental questions and
a strong sense of duty. Prom his entry into the army in 1808
to his retirement in 1836, a period of twenty-eight years, he
had discharged every duty with fidelity, had continually risen
in rank and retired from the service enjoying the esteem of his
brother officers as a most efficient and capable soldier.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
OTtteon Humpfetn.
OF the many great men who between the Revolutionary
period and the Civil War served Georgia with ability
and fidelity, no one deserves a more honorable position
in our history than Wilson Lumpkin, who filled every position
within the gift of the people of Georgia, with satisfaction to
his constituents, with distinction to himself and with unswerv-
ing fidelity to the principles of right and justice. The Lump-
kin family has been a notable one in Georgia. They come of
pure English stock. The first ancestor in America was Dr.
Thomas Lumpkin, who came to Virginia during the colonial
period and settled in King and Queen county. After the Revo-
lutionary War, Virginia, then the oldest and most populous of
the colonies, sent out a vast army of her promising young men
to settle up the waste places of the west and south. It was not
always the young men who went, and among these migrating
pioneers was George Lumpkin, (a grandson of the original set-
tler, Dr. Thomas,) who in middle life himself, with his son
John, then a married man, moved to Georgia, and in the year
1784 settled on Long Creek, in Oglethorpe, being among the
first settlers of that section which was then on the border. At
that time Governor Wilson Lumpkin was an infant one year old,
having been born in Pittsylvania county, Va., on January 14,
1783. John Lumpkin, son of George, father of Wilson, was
himself a man of note in his day. He was a man of fine appear-
ance, about six feet in stature, courteous, fluent in speech,
affable in his manner and very popular amongst his neighbors.
For many years he served his people, first as a justice of the
peace in the county of Wilkes, then Avhen Oglethorpe county
was created, he was for many years a judge of the Inferiior
Court. He became a member of the Legislature which passed
the Rescinding Act of the Yazoo Fraud. He was a member of
the convention which formed the second Constitution of Geor-
316 MEN OF MARK
gia, was a Jeffersonian elector for president and vice-president,
and was for many years a clerk of the Superior Court of Ogle-
thorpe county. He was the father of ten sons and one daugh-
ter. Eight of these ten sons and the daughter lived to rear
families. Wilson Lumpkin was the second son and was named
after Col. John Wilson, of Pittsylvania, Ya., who had married
his father's only sister.
The Lumpkin children had unusual advantages for that day.
The father being a public man they came in contact with a great
many people, and in the house there were more newspapers,
books, and general reading matter than was common in that
period. Governor Lumpkin himself testifies that his mother
was a woman of great strength of mind, deeply imbued with the
religion of the Bible, and that she was so familiar with that
book as to need no concordance to find any passage of Scripture
which she desired. Under these influences, Wilson Lumpkin
grew up. From sixteen to eighteen years of age his time was
devoted to the clerk's office and to laboring on his father's farm.
He had become a well-read youth and familiar with the legal
forms of business. Already he was widely read in history, such
as Josephus, Rollin, Plutarch, Gibbon and Hume. He had
been profoundly interested in Blackstone and the more so as he
had discovered how it was connected with and had sprung from
the history of the past. He had read Smith's Wealth of
Nations, ^rattel on International Law and Paley's Philosophy,
and became an unswerving convert to the principles of free
trade, from which he never deviated during his life. In his
autobiography he certifies to the fact that he was profoundly
impressed with his ignorance, and he believed that under exist-
ing conditions he could never hope to become a highly educated
man.
Before he arrived at his majority he married Miss Elizabeth
Walker, who was his faithful companion for nineteen years,
and who bore him five sons and three daughters.
He continued to assist his father in the clerk's office, and a
portion of the time in his twentieth and twenty-first years was
WILSON LUMPKIN 317
spent in teaching school, and he says, with rather pardonable
pride, that before his school year closed he had upwards of forty
scholars and was perhaps one of the most popular teachers in
the county. In October, 1804, he being then just twenty-one
years old, was elected almost unanimously to the Legislature of
Georgia. Governor Lumpkin came to the Legislature pro-
foundly imbued with a sense of his youth and insufficiency.
Governor Milledge was in the executive chair of the State.
Abram Jackson, of Burke county, a brother of the distinguished
governor and general, James Jackson, was speaker of the
House, and Thomas Jefferson was President of the United
States. There was no distinct line of cleavage between the
political parties in the State of Georgia. William H. Craw-
ford and John Clark were the leaders of the opposing factious.
Mr. Lumpkin was more intimate with Mr. Crawford and his
friends, but tried to steer clear of active participation in either
faction. Mr. Lumpkin's conduct in the Legislature was so
satisfactory to his constituents that they kept him there for the
greater part of the next ten years. He was a studious man,
steadily grew in information, possessed a strong fund of com-
mon sense, very resolute in his convictions when once he had
taken a position, and it was not, therefore, surprising when in
1814 he was elected to the Federal Congress, and took his seat
on December 1, 1815.
Space does not permit a relation of his experiences in this
first session, but as he was defeated for reelection, it is worth
while to stop to mention the reason. The members of Congress
had been receiving as compensation six dollars per day, and at
that session they passed an act changing to fifteen hundred dol-
lars per annum, without regard to the number of days in active
service. Governor Lumpkin and other members of the Georgia
delegation voted against this measure at every stage, but it was
passed by a small majority, and notwithstanding they had voted
against the law, the Georgia members, with the exception of
Forsyth, were every one defeated, as the people were indignant
with everybody who had been in the Congress perpetrating what
they considered such an outrage.
318 MEN OF MARK
Before going to Congress Mr. Lumpkin had sold his property
in Oglethorpe and had purchased lands farther west, in Morgan
county, to which he had moved his family, and on retiring from
Congress, in 1818, returned home and devoted himself to the
opening up of his farm. Unexpectedly in that year, and with-
out solicitation on his part, he was appointed a commissioner to
run lines in accordance with a treaty which had been made with
the Creek Indians in January, 1818, and in 1819, this treaty
having been revised, he began serving as a commissioner for the
running of the lines. This was the first time that he had come
in contact with the Indians which people in later years were to
take so much of his time and in which work he was to render
such distinguished public service.
About this time the governor took an extended tour of the
States west of Georgia, across the Mississippi river into the
country west of the great stream, with the idea of seeking a
home where the lands were more fertile. He tells of this trip,
which was a very extensive one for those days, and says that he
came home with the conclusion that taking all in all there was
no better country than Georgia.
In 1819, at the solicitation of the people of his county, he
again served in the Legislature. In 1821 he was again
appointed commissioner to deal with the boundary with the
Indians and to lay out Indian reservations, and was offered his
choice of any position in the new territory of Florida, which had
just been acquired from Spain. He visited Florida, looked
over the ground there, and declined the appointment, as he did
not care to leave Georgia. From 1821 to 1824 he remained
quietly on his farm, cultivating it profitably and with much
pleasure to himself.
In 182-4 he finally parted company politically with Hon. W.
H. Crawford. He believed that Mr. Crawford had no prospect
of election to the presidency, that his health was entirely too
precarious to justify his candidacy, and that it would have no
other effect than to defeat General Jackson and the election of a
Federalist like John Quincy Adams. So in that year Mr.
Lumpkin headed the Jackson ticket in Georgia. To the sur-
WILSON LUMPKIN 319
prise of the people, his ticket received one-third of the votes
cast. The result of the election was as he had forecasted.
Crawford's candidacy defeated General Jackson, and John
Quincy Adams was elected President.
In 1825 the Legislature created a board of public works of
seven members. The members of this board of public works
was to travel over the State and ascertain if the State could to
advantage build canals or take up the building of railroads,
which was then being talked about as a possible means of facili-
tating transportation. The State government was in the hands
at that time of political opponents of Mr. Lumpkin, notwith-
standing which he was elected a. member of this board of public
works, and very much to his surprise, when the members met to
select that one who should accompany the engineer as the work-
ing partner, Mr. Lumpkin was unanimously chosen. The engi-
neer was Mr. Fulton, a very capable man, and a Scotchman,
then past the meridian of life and but a short time in America.
Mr. Lumpkin looked after the business end of the matter, the
commissary department, so to speak, and by putting himself in
the attitude of a learner gathered much valuable information
from the engineer. It is questionable if any act of his life gave
him as much pleasure as the months he spent in this survey.
The conclusion arrived at by Fulton and Lumpkin was that it
was utterly impracticable to undertake such a thing as canals
and that a railroad ought to be built by the State from Milledge-
ville to Chattanooga, and when the Western and Atlantic Rail-
road was surveyed twelve years later, he congratulated himself
mightily that the road followed almost identically the line
which had been laid down by Mr. Fulton and himself as early
as 1825.
In 1826 he was again elected to Congress and took his seat
in the Twentieth Congress. In 1828 he was reelected to the
Twenty-first Congress, and in 1830 to the Twenty-second Con-
gress. In these Congresses he supported Governor Troup in
his contention with President Adams over the relation of Geor-
gia to the Indians. Mr. Lumpkin had in his various services
on the Indian frontier as commissioner and in his surveys with
320 MEN OF MARK
Mr. Fulton through Cherokee Georgia come into a very great
knowledge of the Indian situation and was able to render yeo-
man service in Congress looking to the solution of the troubles
between Georgia and Alabama on the one hand and the Chero-
kees and Creeks on the other hand. He was very desirous of
remaining in Congress, but in 1831, when he still had a full
term to serve, his political friends in Georgia practically com-
pelled him to become a candidate for governor, and in October
of that year he was elected governor of Georgia and took his
seat in the executive chair 011 Xovember 9, 1831. For the next
four years he gave faithful and splendid service to the people
of Georgia as governor, and retired from the governor's chair
in 1835, possessed of the confidence and the esteem of the peo-
ple in as large measure as any man who had served them for
many years.
The very troublesome question of the removal of the Chero-
kees west of the Mississippi river was then pressing, and in
1836, on July 7, in connection with Governor Carroll, of Ten-
nessee, he was commissioned as one of the Cherokee commis-
sioners, and from that time until October 23, 1837, led a life
of incessant activity, and would have remained in that service
until the conclusion of the whole matter but for his election by
the Georgia Legislature, in the fall of 1837, to the United
States Senate, to fill an unexpired term. He served out this
term of four years, during which he was in the Senate with
perhaps the most distinguished body of men that the Senate had
ever held in all our history.
In 1841 he retired, as he supposed, permanently from public
life, but was immediately called upon to take in hand the affairs
of the Western and Atlantic Railroad which the State was then
building and which had fallen into a deplorable condition.
Governor Lumpkin was a very capable business man, orderly,
methodical and prudent. He took hold, much against his will,
and simply because it seemed a duty, and in the course of the
following two years evolved order out of chaos and put the
affairs of the railroad into better shape.
WILSON LUMPKIN 321
He was now past sixty years old. For the greater part
of forty years lie had been continually in the public service ; he
had filled every position from the lower house of the Legisla-
ture to the United States Senate. He had served two terms as
Governor of his State, and his services as Indian commissioner
had been great. He retired to his plantation, where his days
were passed in correspondence with friends, in reading good
books, of which he was always inordinately fond, and in the
preparation, when he arrived at the age of seventy, of what pur-
ported to be an account of the removal of the Cherokee Indians
from Georgia, between the years 1827 and 1838, but which in
effect was an autobiography of his life up to his retirement
from public service, concluding with an extended and very
detailed account of the removal of the Indians. Over this
manuscript he worked with great industry. He makes the
statement that at times he had written as much as twenty large
pages in a day without even stopping to mend his pen. In the
year 1907 Wymberley Jones DeRenne, into whose possession
this manuscript had come, after eliminating all the non-essen-
tial parts of it, published the remainder in two large volumes.
After a married life of nineteen years with his first wife,
she died, and a couple of years later Governor Lumpkin mar-
ried his second wife, who bore him three sons and one daughter.
He was all of his mature life a consistent member of the Bap-
tist church. In summing up the life of this great man, three
things stand out prominently. First, is the spirit of humility
with which he undertook public service ; secondly, the way in
which he grew as he went along, steadily rising in the measure
of his ability to do whatever work was entrusted to him; and
thirdly, the strong, good sense which enabled him to gauge men
and measures correctly and to bring about good results, even
under the most difficult circumstances. He was in no sense
a brilliant man, but it is doubtful if Georgia ever had within
her borders a more useful, more loyal or more patriotic citizen.
After many years of honorable retirement, he died in 1870 at
the as;e of eighty-seven.
BER^AED SUTTLEE.
21
OTtUtsi Cotitj.
IX the nineteenth century the Cobb family contributed
largely to the history of Georgia, at least four members of
the family having been eminent in that period. American
biographical works show that since the first settlement of the
country twenty-seven members of the Cobb family have won
eminence in the various walks of life. These range from Massa-
chusetts to Georgia, but those in Georgia, more nearly acquired
a national reputation than the members in the other States.
The Georgia family comes from the Virginia branch, and in
1611, Joseph Cobb, at that time called Cobbs, was settled on the
James river in Virginia, and called his home "Cobbham." In
England there is a village of Cobbham, and in Albemarle
county, V;i.. there is now a village of Cobbham, these villages
having taken their name from the early Gobi)-. In 1635
Ambrose and Nicholas Cobb came to Virginia, and during these
early days these pioneer Cobbs are in the records frequently as
the recipients of lands from the Stale.
Prior to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, two of these
Virginia Cobbs, brothers, Thomas and John, drifted to Georgia.
Thomas came first and John a little later. This Thomas was a
notable man, born in Virginia in 1724 and died in. Georgia in
1835, living to the great old age of one hundred and eleven
years, and saw around him in the latter years of his life his
great-great-grandchildren. Tie was a soldier in the Revolu-
tionary War and made a good record, getting to be a colonel.
Tie. was a good business man, acquired a large estate in eastern
Georgia iu what is now Columbia county, and was one of the
must influential men of the day. His son John was the father
of Thomas Willis Cobb, who was born in Columbia county, in
1784, and whose grandfather, Col. Thomas Cobb, was affection-
ately, if irreverently, known as "Granddaddy Cobb" by the
voiing men of the section.
THOMAS WILLIS COBB 323
Thomas W. Cobb received a liberal education, studied law
under the instruction of the distinguished lawyer and statesman,
William Harris Crawford, and entered upon the practice of his
profession at Greensboro, Ga. He promptly gained recognition
as a lawyer and became so prominent in the affairs of Georgia
that he was elected a member of the Fifteenth Congress. He
was reelected to the Sixteenth, and after an interval of one term
was again elected to the Eighteenth Congress, and before the
expiration of that term was elected a member of the United
States Senate in place of Nicholas Ware, deceased, serving from
December 16, 1824, to 1828, when he resigned. Immediately
after his resignation he was chosen judge of the Superior Court,
and died at Greensboro, Ga., on February 1, 1830.
Mr. Cobb was a prominent member of Congress, one of his
best speeches being a sharp criticism on General Jackson's con-
duct in the Florida campaign and with Mercer of Virginia and
Clay of Kentucky advocated a vote of censure on that distin-
guished officer. He took a prominent part in the debate on
the Missouri Compromise, in 1810, and was the author of some
admirable political essays. Mr. Cobb was recognized as an
able lawyer, a sound jurist, a convincing speaker, and a man of
unsullied private and public character. A son, J. Beckham
Cobb, moved to Mississippi, and was making a most brilliant
reputation when he died prematurely, at about thirty years of
age. Thomas W. Cobb was a cousin of Howell and Thomas
R. R. Cobb.
Cobb county, laid off in 1832, was named in his honor.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
fofm jWttrfjell Boolp.
JOHN M. DOOLY, of Lincoln county, was one of the most
famous Georgians of his day. As a jurist, a wit, and an
orator, he had few equals, and the bright stories ascribed to
him would fill a volume. He was the son of Col. John Dooly,
of Revolutionary fame, who came to Georgia from ISTorth Caro-
lina some years prior to the Revolution. John ]\I. Dooly was
born about 1772, in Lincoln county. As a little boy about eight
years old he witnessed the murder of his father by a band of
Tories, in 1780. Judge Dooly grew up on the frontier, and
as educational advantages were very limited, it is certain that
he received but little from the schools. He had, however,
a remarkable memory, and was wonderfully endowed with wit,
humor, and quick perception, and these, with a fondness for
books, enabled him to acquire what was for that day a liberal
education. He appears to have read law under Matthews, of
Washington, Ga., and it is said of him that at that time he was
so poorly clad that he was ashamed to come into town. He
promptly gained recognition at the bar, together with a large
measure of personal popularity.
On September 2, 1802, he was appointed solicitor-general of
the Western circuit to fill a vacancy and on November 22, 1804,
he was elected to the same office by the Legislature. In 1816
he was elected judge of the Western circuit. In 1822 he was
elected as judge of the Northern circuit, and in 1825 was
reelected by the Legislature. He served several terms in the
Legislature, and was often suggested as a candidate for Con-
gress, but being a Federalist in national politics and a strong-
Clarke party man, he did not succeed in this ambition. He
was more than once defeated for the United States Senate—
once by Forsyth. These failures were largely due to his parti-
san attachment to the Clarke faction, but through the influence
of this faction on those occasions when they were successful, he
JOHN MITCHELL DOOLY 325
served on the bench. In the quarrels growing out of the notori-
ous Yazoo Fraud, Mr. Dooly was sharply criticized. It was
he who said of Governor Troup's mouth, that it was especially
fashioned by Providence to pronounce the word "Yazoo." His
fame rests chiefly upon his natural endowments, his unerring
legal instincts, and his wit.
Hon. G. E. Thomas, of Columbus, in "The Bench and Bar
of Georgia" gives a lengthy description of him which is of inter-
est. Among other things, he says that he was of medium size,
and his head always seemed too heavy for his body, his mind
too active and strong for his frame. That he had a sharp and
discordant voice, which at once attracted the attention of all
within hearing. That there was a point, a spice, and felicity of
expression in everything that he said which caused all others
to be silent when he spoke. In wit and sarcasm Mr. Thomas
says that he never knew Judge Dooly's equal, and yet that the
very subject of his wit from the happy manner in which the
judge exercised his humor was generally the first to join in the
hearty laugh which it produced.
George Gilmer, in his "Georgians," speaks of him at consid-
erable length. Among other things he says that his capacity
was sufficient for any attainment, if properly directed and
actively employed. That Forsyth was his only countryman
who equaled him in polemic party debate. Governor Gilmer
further speaking of Judge Dooly said that no man he had ever
known had quickness of apprehension in so eminent a degree as
Judge Dooly; that his mind was clear as light and quick as
thought. This coupled with a tenacious memory, which enabled
him to recall court decisions at will, with a remarkable insight
into man, made him at the bar almost always the victor in his
cases. He did not hesitate to show at once whether he liked or
disliked the people whom he met, and it is said that he seldom
erred in his judgment of character.
Another personal acquaintance, Dr. John G. Slappey, said in
"The Bench and Bar" that he was the most remarkable charac-
ter he had ever seen. As an advocate he was bold and inde-
326 MEN OF MARK
pendent, and at times apparently reckless. He was not always
at his best when needed, and it is said that sometimes his clients
had to hunt him up and bring him into court in a state of
inebriety. He was as simple and unostentatious in his man-
ners and habits as a child, and entirely above the aristocratic
nonsense of the times in which he lived.
Judge Garnett Andrews, in his "Reminiscences of an Old
Georgia Lawyer," says that he was admitted to the bar in 1798
and that after he was elevated to the bench he was much more
respectful of the proprieties of life than he had been previously.
The statements above made as to this remarkable man are in
the exact words of his contemporaries who were associated with
him at the bar.
A few authentic anecdotes will illustrate his humor. He had
offended Judge Tait, who insisted on fighting a duel with him.
Judge Tait had a wooden leg, and Judge Dooly insisted that he
could not fight Judge Tait unless he was put on equal terms,
and when called upon to define the "equal terms" he explained
that he could only fight if Judge Tait would allow him to put
one of his legs in a bee gum. Judge Tait, very much insulted,
announced that he intended to publish him as a coward, where-
upon Judge Dooly calmly replied that he might do so at his own
expense in every newspaper in the State, for he would rather
fill several newspapers than one coffin.
There were laws against gambling which he enforced very
rigidly when on the bench, though prior to that he had gam-
bled freely himself. One night in his hotel, while holding court,
he was much annoyed by the lawyers gambling in the next
room. The judge got up and went into their room, took a hand
in the game, won all the money that the others had, then dis-
missed them, saying : "Friends, I have tried to break you up in
one way, and if you insist on interfering with this court's
sleep, I will break you up in another way." Sitting up one
night trying a case, the sheriff voluntarily placed a small
pitcher of toddy on the table. When it was finished, he told
the officer to "bring him some more water out of the same well."
JOHN MITCHELL DOOLY 327
During the stormy session of the Legislature in 1825, some of
Governor Troup's political adversaries branded him with mad-
ness, to which Judge Dooly most happily replied: "If he is
mad, I wish the same mad dog that bit him would bite me."
Hearing a newly married lady complimented on her fine uni-
form temper, he said that he had never known but one lady of
that character, and she was the wife of old George C- — ,
and she had been mad uniformly for forty years.
He was a man of the warmest charity. He observed on one
occasion, when a poor beggar asked him for alms, that he was
early taught by his refusal to give to an unfortunate widow in
Savannah never to let the devil cheat him out of another oppor-
tunity to give charity, and that he had determined to err on the
safe side ever after, and to give something in all cases of doubt.
A certain lawyer in Lincoln county was a candidate before the
people for a seat in the Legislature. When asked by the judge
as to his prospects in the coming election, he replied that
he "was apprehensive of defeat, as the people had a strong
prejudice against voting for a lawyer." "Oh!" replied the
judge, "If that is all, I will aid you, for you can get a cer-
tificate from me at any time that you are no lawyer." At Han-
cock Superior Court, the judge had to impose a fine on two men
brought before him for riot. Philip Sims, the clerk, a rigid
economist, when called upon by the judge for a piece of paper
handed up a small, dirty scrap. The judge turned it over and
over, then threw it down contemptuously 011 the bald pate of the
clerk, saying, "I would not fine a dog on such paper as that.
Go, gentlemen, and sin no more, or I will see to it the next time
that you are fined on gilt edged paper."
One dark, gloomy night, while holding court at Crawford-
ville, his bedroom was underneath that of some gentlemen who
were telling anecdotes and making an uproar. Suddenly dread-
ful sounds were heard from the judge's chamber. When the
people rushed there, he was beating one chair with another all
over the floor apparently in a furious passion. When asked
what was the matter he replied, "Xothing, I am only keeping
MEN OF MARK
time with the noise upstairs." "One evening," says Judge
Andrews, "a lawyer during the July court asked the judge and
several other gentlemen, among whom was myself, to his office
to eat watermelons. The judge had complained all the week
of my being unusually slow in conducting my business. After
we had eaten all the melons before us, I proposed to go with
;m -tlicr friend a few steps off to a cellar for more. 'No, no,
Andrews, don't you go,' says Mr. Dooly, 'they will get too ripe
before you return.' He detested foppery. Being sick at
Milledgeville, and confined to the second story of the hotel, a
young doctor had been sent in by his friend, who was rather fop-
pish and wore heavy, brass-heel boots, just then coming in fash-
ion. Mr. Dooly promptly became disgusted with his manners
and thought the doctor took unusual pains to let it be known
that he was shod after the latest fashion. He could hear the
brass heels ring out at every step upstairs and to the door.
When the doctor arrived on the third visit, Mr. Dooly called
out, "Ride in, doctor."
When John Q. Adams was elected President in 1825, a
young man was making a. great outcry at McComb's Hotel,
where Judge Dooly was stopping, and how the country had been
disgraced, etc. Judge Dooly stood quietly listening, and after
a time said to the young man, "Does Mr. Adams know that you
are opposed to him ?" "jSTo, sir ; I wish he did know how little
1 think of him." With a twinkle in his eye and in his most
sarcastic voice, the judge said, "Suppose I write on and let Mr.
Adams know that you are dissatisfied with his election. Per-
haps he will resign." The young man hastily left, not waiting
to join in the roar of laughter which followed at his expense.
He had a happy way of having a favorite horse taken care of.
When he drove up to a hotel, he would ask if he and his horse
could find quarters. If the answer was favorable, he would
apologize for his horse by informing the landlord that he had
not long purchased him from a Frenchman, and that the horse
had not yet learned to speak English, so that he had to speak
for him ; that he desired for him a faithful hostler who would
JOHN MITCHELL DOOLY 329
feed, water and curry him three times a day, and furnish a nice
pallet of clean straw at night.
His entire life was spent in Lincoln county, where he was
born, and he built a large and handsome residence near Barks-
dale's Ferry, in that county. In his earlier life, he avoided the
company of women, but in his latter years married Miss Eliza-
beth Walton, who after his death became the wife of Thomas
J. Murray. Judge Dooly left no children, and his entire
estate, which was considerable, was left to his wife. He died
on May 26, 182T, about fifty-five years old, and rests in the old
family burying ground, in Lincoln county.
Governor Gilmer, who knew him well, said of him, "He has
the organization and endowments of the greatest men of his age
and country."
OTIS ASHMORE.
CHARLES DOUGHERTY was a native Georgian, born
in Oglethnrpe county about the beginning of the nine-
teenth century. His parents were Charles and Rebecca
(Carlton) Dougherty. The antecedents of his father are
unknown, but his mother, whose maiden name was Rebecca
( fax-Item, was a daughter of Thomas Carlton, of King and Queen
county, Y;i., who with his brother Robert moved to Georgia
about 1785. She was twice married. Her first husband was
named Puryear, by whom there was a family of probably six
children. After Mr. Puryear's death she married Charles
Dougherty, and of this marriage there were three sons and one
• hi lighter. The daughter lived to be a young woman and died
in a few months after marriage. The three sons were Charles,
William and Robert Dougherty, each of whom became an emi-
»J 7
nent lawyer, Charles and William in Georgia, and Robert in
Alabama, to which State he moved. Charles was much inter-
ested in politics, but William gave such attention to his law
practice that he was considered by many the most eminent and
able lawyer in the State, is said to have made the greatest, for-
tune out of his practice ever earned in Georgia, and was noted
for his enmity and antagonism to the banks of that day, fight-
ing the system and the individual banks on every possible occa-
sion. Charles practiced law at Athens while William was
located first at Athens, then at Columbus, then at. Atlanta. For
many years Charles Dougherty stood as a leader of the Whig-
party. He served as judge of the Western Circuit with dis-
tinguished ability. The judges were then elected by the Legis-
lature, and it is related that on one occasion when there were
several Democratic candidates, that party having a majority in
the Legislature, for the judgeship of the Western Circuit, Judge
Dougherty said to the wife of Judge Junius Hilly er that if the
Democrats should not be able to agree among themselves, the
CHARLES DOUGHERTY 331
Whig members of the Legislature would vote for Judge Hillyer,
and the Whig members, learning that Dougherty preferred
Judge Hillyer, threw their support to him and elected him.
In "The Life and Times of Joseph E. Brown" we find this
estimate of Mr. Dougherty: "Charles Dougherty was an idol of
the bar and people. ]^o standard is regarded as too high by
which to measure the power of his mind and the magnitude of
his heart. Xoiie too gentle or too pure by which to test his
priceless social virtues. He gave his counsel and advice like
the sun gives its light and heat. All could feel their warmth
and see their wisdom. Xature made him great, but the Whig
party failed to invest him with political power, but his defeat
only kept, as similar fortune has kept many of our best men
who are fit as he was for any station, in the shades of private
life. His heart was in full accord with his mind, and his moral
courage was equal to any emergency. He differed from Ber-
rien, Dawsoii, Jenkins, Tooinbs, Stephens, and other leaders of
his day, in 1850, as to the true course of the South on the ques-
tion of anti-slavery aggression on the part of the iSTorth, and
like a few others of the old Whigs, younger in years, such as
Lucius J. Gartrell, Watson G. Harris, James L. Seward and
James 1ST. Ramsey, took open position with the Southern rights
Democrats of the States." He died in 1853 or '54, at Athens,
Ga., leaving behind him the name of an unselfish patriot of
spotless character. Dougherty county, in the southwestern part
of the State was named in his honor.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
J^atfjaniel Jlacon Cratoforb,
NATHANIEL MACON CRAWFORD, A.M., D.D., Bap-
tist minister, scholar and educator, was born at the old
Crawford homestead, known for many years as Wood-
lawn, near Lexington, Georgia, March 22, 1811. On his pater-
nal side, he was of Scotch-Irish stock. His father was the dis-
tinguished Wm. H. Crawford, whose biography will be found
in this volume. His mother's people were of French descent.
She was the daughter of Louis Gerdine, who came from France,
first settling on Beach Island, S. C., just below Augusta.
Nathaniel Macon Crawford, so named in honor of Hon.
Nathaniel Macon of North Carolina, spent most of his time,
until his fourteenth year in Washington City, where his father
was called by his public duties. At the early age of fifteen he
entered the Sophomore class of Franklin College, now the Uni-
versity of Georgia. His college course was a model of pro-
priety. Throughout the three years of his student life till his
graduation, there was not a demerit marked up against him.
Though so young, without making special effort, he took the lead
in his class, and retained this position to the end. On the
graduation* of the class when Dr. Church, the president, an-
nounced that, "we have awarded the first honor to Nathaniel
Macon Crawford," the whole class gave spontaneous approval.
There were twenty-one young men in this class, among them,
Gen. Robert Toombs, Bishop Geo. F. Pierce, Bishop Thos. F.
Scott, Rev. Shaler Hillyer, D.D., Dr. John M. Cuyler, Rev.
John N. Waddell, and others, who became alike distinguished
in life.
On leaving college, Mr. Crawford studied law in his father's
office. Although admitted to the bar, he never practiced the
legal profession. His first official duties were as clerk in the
executive department at Milledgeville during Governor Gil-
mer's administration. While in this office, during the year
NATHANIEL MAC ON CRAWFORD 333
C " •-
1837, he was elected Professor of Mathematics in Oglethorpe
University, at Midway, Georgia, which position he held four
or five years. In 1844 he was ordained as a Baptist minister.
He was pastor of the Baptist church in Washington, Ga., in
1845, and in 1846 was called to the First Baptist Church of
Charleston, S. C. From 1847 to 1854 he filled the Chair of
Biblical Literature in Mercer University. In 1854 he was
elected President of that institution. Two years later, leaving
Mercer, he accepted the Chair of Mental and Moral Philosophy
in the University of Mississippi. In 1858 he returned to the
Presidency of Mercer University and continued at its head dur-
ing the Civil War, when it was maintained practically as a high
school. At the close of the war in 1865 he accepted the Presi-
dency of Georgetown College, Ky. This position he held for
six years when, on account of failing health, he resigned and
retired to his farm near Tunnell Hill, Ga., where he died in
1871.
Although it will he seen that he made many changes, in each
of these it is claimed that he had good reasons for doing so,
being impelled principally by desire to serve the institutions to
which he went.
Dr. Crawford was a lifelong student. His thorough grasp
of principles, his remarkable memory, his quick perceptions and
his unbounded thirst for knowledge, soon gave him more than a
State-wide reputation as a scholar. In mathematics he was
preeminent, with the natural sciences he was familiar, keeping
up with the discoveries of the day. In Latin, Greek, Hebrew,
and several modern languages he was proficient. He was well
read in poetry, a good constitutional lawyer and kept thoroughly
acquainted with the politics of the day. He was mighty in
Scripture and at home in theology. His scholarship was as
remarkable for its accuracy as for its comprehensiveness.
Of him, Dr. Shaler Hillyer, his old classmate writes, "As a
scholar, Dr. Crawford developed his full character of profound
and extensive learning, as a Christian deep and fervent piety,
MEN OF MARK
as a man of spotless integrity endowed with the most charming
social virtues and with a charity as broad as the world."
Dr. Shaver, for many years editor of the Christian Index,
writes of him : "The chief charm about Dr. Crawford was not
his singular balance, nor poise of intellect, nor the thorough
learning that gave him the tread of a master in every field of
inquiry, nor the strong right judgment, which had wrestled pre-
vailingly with all problems of ethics and theology, it was the
equable temper, the dispassionate spirit, the transparent sin-
cerity, the stainless sense of honor, the gentle affection breathing-
through his utterances from first to last."
The celebrated Dr. H. H. Tucker said: "I learned wisdom
from him, and caught inspiration from him, and for years was
warmed into spiritual fervor by him. Many times have I
presented to him the darkest and most complicated questions
known to metaphysics, but never without receiving light. Often,
needing a counselor in profoundest studies, I went to him, and
never in vain. When my scholarship was at fault, he was the
living cyclopedia who never failed to supply me with informa-
tion. In some great emergencies of my life, when none but he
knew my secret he nerved me up to manhood, which but for
him, I should never have shown or known."
Often, when Dr. Crawford was professor of mathematics at
Oglethorpe University, the learned Dr. Talmadge, who was for
many years its able president, has been known to speak of Dr.
Crawford as "a walking literary cyclopedia," and often during
their connection in that institution, Dr. Talmadge would refer
to him for information, rather than look it up from his books
in the library.
In this connection the writer remembers in the year 1849
hearing several physicians discussing a medical point in Dr.
Crawford's presence. After all of them seemed to have
exhausted their information Dr. Crawford very quietly re-
marked, "Gentlemen, if you will pardon me, I will refer you
to a certain page in Dungliuson's Medical Practice, where you
will find that neither one of you is exactly correct." He pro-
NATHANIEL MACON CRAWFORD 335
ceeded to quote the learned authority verbatim, on the point
under discussion. Reference to the book proved that Dr. Craw-
ford was correct. As his student at Mercer, and for many years,
his family physician and neighbor, the writer bears willing
testimony to the beauty and strength of his Christian character
as portrayed by others.
While living at Midway he met and married, in 1841, Miss
Annie Lozeer, a daughter of Captain Lawrence and Margaret
(Watson) Lozeer. Dr. Hillyer, his old classmate, performed
the ceremony. The Lozeers were of French descent. Captain
Lozeer when only a boy fled from France with his brother and
became a seaman. The greater part of his life was spent on
the high seas. He died near Augusta.
Four children were born to Dr. and Mrs. Crawford, and it
was in his inner home life that the real beauty of his genuine
and natural courtesy was best illustrated. Here, above all other
places, his kindly nature and sunny disposition found its best
expression. Surrounded by his wife, (who was the true coun-
terpart of her noble husband), and their children, Dr. Craw-
ford was always happy in making them happy.
R. J. MASSE Y.
HOPE HULL was born in Somerset county, Md., March
13, 1763, son of Hopewell Hull, an Englishman by birth
and a shipbuilder by occupation, who came to Maryland
in 1755 and settled in Somerset county. To him were born
five sons, of whom two besides the subject of this sketch, John
and Thomas, were also soldiers in the Revolution. These sons
settled in Virginia after the war, but reliable traces of their
descendants are lost. After the close of the Revolutionary War,
in which Hope Hull had been a good soldier, he studied for the
ministry. He was received into the Baltimore Conference of
the Methodist Church, in 1785, and was sent to Salisbury Cir-
cuit, in jSTorth Carolina. In 1788 he was sent to Washington,
Ga., and was the founder of the Methodist Church in this State.
During the next decade he traveled from New England to
Savannah, preaching the gospel after the fashion of the circuit
rider of that period. While in Virginia he was married to
Miss Ann Wing-field, of Hanover county, and soon after moved
to Washington, Ga., where he was "located."
Of this marriage were born two sons and a daughter. Asbury,
the elder son, was one of the most prominent men of his day.
He served many terms in the Legislature, was Speaker of the
House and President of the Senate, and was for forty-seven
years Treasurer of the University of Georgia. Dr. Henry
Hull, the younger, was a practicing physician until he was
elected Professor of Mathematics in the University, in 1830.
Resigning in 1846, he devoted the remainder of a long life to
agriculture. Among his pupils were James Johnson, Alexan-
der H. Stephens, Howell Cobb, Herschel V. Johnson, John Gill
Shorter, all governors of States ; Henry L. Benning, James
Jackson, Ebenezer Starnes, Alexander M. Speer, Robert P.
Trippe, Samuel Hall and Linton Stephens, Justices of the
Supreme Court ; Francis S. Bartow, Thomas R. R. Cobb, the
HOPE HULL 337
two LeContes, Crawford W. Long, J. L. M. Curry, Benjamin
M. Palmer and Benjamin H. Hill. Hope Hull's only daugh-
ter married Prof. James P. Waddell, son of Dr. Moses Waddell.
Hope Hull had too thoughtful a mind not to appreciate the
importance of education. He had educated himself on his cir-
cuits, studying both the English and Latin languages and litera-
ture, and he was convinced that, next to Christianity, education
was the great requisite of the times. While in Washington he
taught the academy which he had helped to organize on his first
visit to the village. In 1803 he moved to Athens, where he
was the most active member of the Board of Trustees of the
University in developing that infant institution.
Rev. Lovick Pierce, D.D., who knew him intimately, has
given this description of the great preacher: "To help rescue
the name of Hope Hull from oblivion I feel to be a reasonable
and holy duty. Indeed, I have long felt that there was an
undischarged obligation upon our church in regard to this emi-
nent man. He was among the pioneers of Methodism in Geor-
gia, and in the vigor of his manhood, both as to his physical and
mental powers, his fame was almost world-wide. I well remem-
ber that in the days of my youth he used to be known under the
coarse but graphic appellation of "Broadaxe," an honorary dis-
tinction conferred on him because of the mighty power that
attended his ministry.
"My eyes first fell on him as he sat near the pulpit of a small
log chapel called 'Hull's Meeting-house/ in Clarke county, near
Athens. It was a memorable day in my own history. I had
longed to see and now I feared to meet him. It was my second
year in my ministry, and above all my fear of criticism made
his presence dreadful to me. The wonderful reports which
had reached me made me look upon him rather as an august
than a fatherly being, and when I saw him there was nothing
in the appearance of the real to relieve my mind of the dread of
the ideal man. His head was rather above the medium size,
his black hair curling, just sprinkled with gray, and each lock
looking as if living under a self-willed government. His face
22
338 MEN OF MARK
was an exceedingly fine one — a well-developed forehead, a
small, keen, blue eye, with a heavy brow, indicative of intense
thought. His shoulders were unusually broad and square, his
chest wide, affording ample room for his lungs; his body was
long and large in proportion to his lower limbs ; his voice full,
flexible and capable of every variety of intonation, from the
softest sounds of sympathy and persuasion to the thunder tones
of wrath. Many ignorant sinners charged him with having
learned their secrets and of using the pulpit to gratify himself
in their exposure, and when convinced of their mistakes, have
doubted whether he was not a prophet. His oratory was natu-
ral, his action was the unaffected expression of his mind. Not
only was there an entire freedom from everything like manner-
ism, but there was a great harmony between his gesticulation
and the expression of his countenance. He seemed in some of
his finest moods of thought to look his words into you. He was
one of nature's orators. In many of his masterly efforts his
words rushed upon his audience like an avalanche, and multi-
tudes seemed to be carried before him like the yielding captives
of a stormed castle.
I was very intimate with him for about ten years, staying
in his house, and talked and prayed and praised with him. At
that time he was a local, I an itinerant preacher; but often did
he leave home and business to travel with me for days. All my
intimacy with him only served to multiply evidences of his
exalted worth. Grave and guarded as he was, there were
moments when he entertained his friends with the recital of
thrilling incidents in his history connected with the more rustic
forms of society with which he had been conversant. There was
in many of his impromptu remarks the appearance of almost
prophetic appositeness."
Hope Hull survived until 1818, when he died in Athens, Ga.,
where he is buried. At the last he said: "God has laid me
under marching orders, I am ready to obey."
His grandson, A. L. Hull, is now Secretary and Treasurer
of the University he loved so well. ^ ^ HULL.
ALFEED IVERSON", SE,, lawyer, judge, Congressman
and United States Senator, came from that remarkable
Puritan colony established at Midway, which, numbers
considered, has furnished the most remarkable collection of
great men in our history. This colony came from Massachu-
setts to Dorchester, S. C., about 1695. After fifty-six years in
Dorchester they decided to seek a better location, and finally
agreed upon Midway, in what is now Liberty county, Ga.
They commenced the removal in 1854, and between that and
1771 a total of seventy-one families came into the little Puritan
settlement. From that little band more than one hundred men
eminent in the various walks of life have since been contributed
to our country, the present senior Senator from Georgia, A. O.
Bacon, being a descendant of one of the Midway colonists.
Mr. Iverson was born in Liberty county, on December 3,
1798. His parents were Eobert and Eebecca (Jones) Iverson.
The records of the old Midway church show that his father was
received as a member on July 2d, 1790. Mr. Iverson had the
best educational advantages and graduated from Princeton Uni-
versity in 1820. He studied law and entered upon the practice
of his profession at Columbus. Three times he was elected a
member of the lower house of the General Assembly and once
to the State Senate. For seven years he served as a judge of
the Superior Court for the Columbus Circuit. As there was at
that time no Supreme Court in Georgia, the office of Superior
Court judge was much more important than it is in the present
day. In 1844, when. James K. Polk was elected, he was a
Democratic elector at large. In 1846 he was elected a represent-
ative in the Thirtieth Congress. He returned to his practice
after serving his term, but a few years later was elected to the
United States Senate as a Democrat and served from 1855 to
January 28, 1861, when with his colleague, Eobert Toombs, he
340 MEN OF MARK
resigned from the Senate on account of the secession of his
State. During his service in the Senate, he served as chairman
of the committee on claims, and as a member of the committees
on military affairs and the Pacific Railroad. He was one of
the most strenuous advocates of the rights of the States, and,
notwithstanding his Puritan descent, a strong secessionist. In
his public speeches he made strong claims for the rights of slave
owners, contending that they should be allowed to go into any
territory with their property, without let or hindrance.
After his retirement from the Senate, he returned to Geor-
gia, served the Confederacy to the extent of his ability, and
after the war lived in retirement until March 4, 1873,. when he
died at Macon, in the seventy-fifth year of his age.
Prior to the Civil War his son, Alfred Iverson, Jr., had been
appointed from civil life to a first-lieutenancy in the regular
cavalry, U. S. A. On the outbreak of the war, he resigned his
commission and entered the Confederate service, in which he
rose to the rank of Brigadier-General. He rendered excellent
service during the war, and yet survices, an honored citizen of
Florida.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
f osepf) M. facfeson.
FOR twenty-five years the name of Joseph W. Jackson,
of Savannah, was known and honored from one end of
Georgia to the other. He was a native of the State and
educated in its schools. Entering upon the practice of the law
at Savannah he became a member of the city council and served
for two years as mayor. Chatham county sent him to both
houses of the General Assembly at different times. His law
practice grew until he was recognized as being in the front rank
of the legal profession of the State. Mr. Jackson was highly
esteemed by every political leader in the State for a period of
twenty-five years, though he does not appear to have been often
himself a seeker for place. He appeared as a member of the
Thirty-first Congress, having been elected as a State-rights
Democrat to take the place of Thomas Butler King, who had
resigned. He finished that term and was reelected to the Thirty-
second Congress, serving all together from March 4, 1850, to
March 3, 1853. He declined a reelection and returned to
Savannah, where he died on September 20, 1854. Mr. Jack-
son's contemporaries rated his ability very highly, and one of
those who knew him best summed up his personal character in
a phrase: "He was the soul of honor."
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
DR. GEORGE JONES, son of Noble Wymberley Jones,
and grandson of Noble Jones, was born February 25th,
1766, and of a large family was the only one to survive
his father, who died in 1805. He studied medicine under his
father's direction and practiced for a number of years, being
elected as late as 1809 President of the Georgia Medical Society
of which N. W. Jones was the first President. The following
is taken from the minutes of a meeting of the members of the
bar of the Federal and State Courts held at the court-house in.
Savannah on the 14th day of November, 1838, the Hon. Charles
S. Henry presiding : "It rarely occurs that a community has to
deplore the death of one of its members, who has been allied to
it by so many interesting relations, as were those which dis-
tinguished the long life of our late venerable fellow-citizen,
George Jones. His career of public service began early in
youth. He endured the last two years of the Revolutionary
War, the hardships of a soldier, and manifested in confinement
on board an English prison ship the fortitude and constancy of
a youthful patriot. When the war was concluded, though still
a very young man, he received strong proofs of public confi-
dence, by being placed in official relations to his fellow-citizens,
the duties of which required the ability, the discretion and the
industry of matured manhood. He was subsequently one of
Georgia's prominent legislators, and in the Convention which
framed our present State Constitution, was a leading member
as a delegate from the county of Chatham. He was frequently
afterwards a member of the General Assembly, in both branches.
Its history shows him to have been pure and disinterested ; at
all times inflexible in the support of correct principles, and in
opposition to those schemes of personal aggrandizement which
were unfortunately consummated by the alienation of the most
GEORGE JONES 343
valuable portion of the State's territory. The estimation in
which his character and attainments were held, induced the
Legislature, though he was not a lawyer professionally, to elect
him judge of the Superior Court for the Eastern Circuit. His
duties in that relation were discharged acceptably to all. His
demeanor as a judge was dignified, courteous, and patient ; and
when he voluntarily retired from the appointment, it was
regretted by the bar, the officers of the court and by the public.
From the bench he was transferred to the Senate of the United
States. His services in that capacity being terminated, he was
called, by general consent, to other stations of usefulness. As
chief magistrate of Savannah his devotion to its interest was
unintermitted. His principles did not permit him to indulge
in the ease of private life, when his services were needed for the
public good ; and it can be truly said of him, that he took office
from a sense of obligation rather than from any desire for dis-
tinction. He was for many years one of the justices of the
Inferior Court, and its journal will show that he was a faithful
administrator of its general duties, and vigilant in all that
regarded the rights of the widow and the orphan. He was
amiable, philanthropic, considerate, firm, forbearing; delicate
in his intercourse with society, and he had a modesty in speech
and manner, at all times and to all persons, worthy of remem-
brance and imitation. To these graces were added the belief
and humility of a Christian."
He was the one who suggested that article in the Constitution
"Freedom of the press, trial by jury, honesty in office holders,
security for honest debtors," and also the one for the promo-
tion of arts and sciences.
In 1812, during the British War, he was elected captain of a
company of Reserves at Savannah, and proved a very efficient
officer. He was alderman of the city of Savannah 1793-1,
1802-3, 1814-15, and mayor from 1812 to 1814.
He was president of the Union Society in 1797 and reelected
in 1798.
344 MEN OF MARK
In religion he was an Episcopalian, and a faithful attendant
of Christ Church, Savannah, of which he was vestryman. He
died November the 13th, 1838, a worthy descendant of Noble
Jones and Noble Wymberley Jones. The three having devoted
their lives to Georgia, Colony and State, for more than one
hundred years. w_ ^ DEREXNE.
DR. LINDSAY DTJEHAM, the founder of the eclectic
school of medicine, divides with Dr. Crawford W. Long
the honor of being the two great Georgia discoverers in
medical science. The Durham family is a very ancient English
one, having their seat in county Durham on the northeast coast
of England. In the early days of Virginia as a colony the
first members of the family came to that section. After several
generations in Virginia Dr. Durham's parents moved to North
Carolina in the latter part of the eighteenth century. Here
Lindsay Durham was born, and spent his early days working
hard in the summer on the farm and for three or four months
of the winter attending the old field school. He was quick
minded, picked up a fair English education in that way, and
commenced life as an old-field school teacher himself. Soon
after middle Georgia was opened up for settlement he removed
to Clarke county and opened up a school near the Oconee river
for the children of the pioneers. He gave great satisfaction to
his patrons and soon had a large following of all the scholars
that he could do justice to. Here in 1820 he met and married
Miss Martha Walker, whose people lived across the river in
Oglethorpe county. His earthly possessions at that time con-
sisted of a Georgia mule, bridle and saddle. Their wedding
tour was a four mile ride on mule back to a rented farm on
which there was no sign of improvement except a one-roomed,
puncheon-floor log cabin in a ten-acre clearing. At this place
Dr. Durham continued to teach school for two years, and then
took to the profession of medicine. Until his death in 1859 he
never moved from the place where he started his married life,
though his reputation had become state-wide and his practice
enormous.
He was certainly a born doctor, for he never attended a lec-
ture and had practically no preparatory training. His getting
346 MEN OF MARK
into the practice came about through his acquaintance with Dr.
Williams who was called on while Dr. Durham was ill. This
Dr. Williams had picked up a good deal of information from
the neighboring Indians concerning the medicinal properties of
the native herbs of the country, and an intimacy sprung up
between the two men; the young school teacher became very
much interested in the study of medicinal herbs in Georgia and
took up this branch of the study. He Avas induced by Dr.
Williams to take up the practice of medicine. He always gath-
ered and prepared his own herbs, having a splendid assistant in
his wife. Dr. Williams had met with such success in the ap-
plication of the information which he had gathered from the
Indians in regard to these roots and herbs that he finally became
an herbalist of the strictest sect. Dr. Durham was a worthy
successor. It is said that Mrs. Durham took special delight in
making pills for the doctor. As this was before the introduc-
tion of even the old-fashioned pill machine and as Dr. Durham
used thousands of pills, it is evident that Mrs. Durham had upon
her hands a task of the first magnitude. His fame rapidly
spread over Georgia and then outside the State. Though there
were no railroads in those days, patients came for hundreds of
miles to avail themselves of his skill. His finances prospered so
that he bought the farm on which he was living and added to it
several hundred acres and accumulated money rapidly. He
brought before the profession more than one hundred and fifty
vegetable remedies then entirely unknown to the regular pro-
fession, but which to-day have a place in every drug store.
Without chemicals or chemical apparatus he became a leading
expert in the knowledge of the secretions of the body and was
quite as far advanced in many respects as even the most learned
scientists of the present day. With experienced eye and deft
fingers he could dose out remedies with as much certainty as
though they had been accurately weighed or measured.
Money flowed in on him so rapidly that he soon owned two
hundred slaves and several thousand acres of good Middle Geor-
gia land. Not caring for further investments he began to hoard
LINDSAY DURHAM 347
the specie which came in. The story is told that in his bedroom
he kept an old fashioned hair trunk in which he stored away
each night the several fees he had received during the day, and
one of his descendants still retains this old trunk as a family
relic. During the financial panic of 1843 the Bank of Athens
was in sore straits and applied to Dr. Durham for relief. He at
once, without counting the money in the old trunk, sent it to
the bank in a one-horse wagon. Here the bank officers carefully
counted out the gold and silver, amounting to approximately
one hundred thousand dollars. This amount enabled the bank
to tide over the crisis and soon thereafter the bank returned
the old trunk full of specie with interest and thanks.
When he commenced the practice, the old forms of bleeding,
blistering and purging were fashionable, and the practice then
pulled a man down instead of building him up. Dr. Durham's
treatment was opposed to this, his remedies acted like magic and
his fame grew with the rapidity almost of the lightning. Of
course imitators sprang up and fraudulent practitioners, but
other sound doctors adopting Dr. Durham's theory and going
further, established the "Eclectic" school of medicine, which
practically stands upon the foundation that within the vege-
table kingdom there is a remedy for every disease, and that the
name eclectic simply means that they choose everything good
and reject everything bad. Dr. Durham was a pioneer in the
botanic school and out of his practice grew the present eclec-
tic system which is now represented by a vast number of able
practitioners in every section of the country.
The little log cabin of 1820 soon grew into a large, commo-
dious and commanding colonial home, and to the couple who
started in such an humble way there were thirteen children
born. Of the thirteen children six sons adopted the medical
profession, each one of them graduating at the Jefferson Medi-
cal College, of Philadelphia, the leading medical school of that
day in the United States. One daughter married a physician.
One son, Xapoleon, graduated at the Military Academy, at
Marietta. Every son and almost every son-in-law was a Con-
348 MEN OF MARK
federate soldier. Two of his sons, Drs. William and A.
Franklin, held high rank as surgeons throughout the strug-
gle. One son was rejected by the medical examining board
because of permanent disability. The Durham family ap-
pears to possess an inherent love for the profession of medi-
cine, for now twenty men can be found in the profession, sons,
grandsons and great-grandsons of the old botanic pioneer who,
under such disadvantages, worked out such tremendous results.
K. J. MASSEY.
g>tepfjen CUtott
BISHOP STEPHEN ELLIOTT, first Bishop of the Prot-
estant Episcopal church in Georgia, occupies to that church
the same relation that Jesse Mercer does to the Baptists
and Hope Hull to the Methodists. Like these other distin-
guished ministers, he was not the first of his denomination in
the State, but he was the great organizer and leader of the Epis-
copal church in Georgia for twenty-five years. Bishop Elliott
was born at Beaufort, S. C., August 31, 1806, and was the son
of Stephen Elliott, LL.D., a famous naturalist of his day, a man
of great attainments, an able writer, and possessed of strong
character. Bishop Elliott graduated at Harvard University in
1824, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and practiced his
profession in Charleston and Beaufort from 1827 until 1833.
Feeling impelled to enter the ministry he applied for orders
in the Episcopal church, and was ordained Deacon in 1835 and
Priest in 1836. His reputation grew so rapidly that when it
became necessary to select a Bishop for the scattered and strug-
gling congregations in Georgia, he was in 1840 elected first
Bishop of the Diocese of Georgia, and consecrated on February
18, 1841. His Diocese covered the entire territory of the State
of Georgia, with a body of seven clergymen and three hundred
communicants. It was an immense work for one man to cover
this great territory and build up a struggling church, but in the
selection of Bishop Elliott no mistake had been made. He de-
veloped remarkable qualities as an organizer and leader, and
planted the church in Georgia upon a strong foundation. On
first coming to the State, in addition to his duties as Bishop,
he acted as rector of Saint John's Church, in Savannah. The
church was undertaking to support a female institute at Mont-
pelier which was embarrassed with debt and having a hard
struggle for existence. At great sacrifice, Bishop Elliott gave
up his ministerial charge in Savannah and took charge of the
350 MEN OF MARK
institute, assuming the debt. From 1845 to 1853 he lived at
Montpelier, and carried on this work in addition to the burdens
of the Diocese.
In 1844 there was added to his load the appointment of Pro-
visional Bishop of Florida. He heartily entered into the
movement to establish the University of the South, under the
patronage of the Episcopal church, and in conjunction with
Bishop Polk canvassed the South in its behalf. He was a joint
signer with Bishop Polk of the letter which summoned the
Dioceses to meet by their deputies and presided over the delib-
erations of the house when it met.
Upon the death of Bishop Meade he succeeded as senior
Bishop of the Council. He was active and prominent in the
efforts which brought about the reunion of the two branches of
the Episcopal church. His latter years were spent in Savannah,
where he added to his other duties the work of rector of Christ
church. During his life he published several volumes of ser-
mons and addresses, and worn out with his great labors died on
December 21st, 1866, in his sixty-first year.
His son, Robert Woodward Barn well Elliott, born in South
Carolina, in 1840, was a valiant Confederate soldier in the Civil
War, after the war entered the Episcopal ministry, rose rapidly,
became the first Episcopal Bishop of Western Texas, and died
in 1887 at the comparatively early age of forty-seven.
Bishop Elliott was a great man. Possessed of great attain-
ments, remarkable energy, organizing capacity of the highest
sort, and a born leader, he threw himself into the work of his
church with entire consecration, seeking no personal ends,
anxious only to advance the cause of religion, and at his death
left in the Episcopal church in Georgia an imperishable monu-
ment to his memory.
Bishop Elliott's mother deserves more than the mere mention
which it is possible to give her. She was the only daughter of
James and Hester (Wylly) Habersham. Her people were among
the best Revolutionary stock in Georgia. She was born in 1778
and in 1796, just 18 years old, married Stephen Elliott. A
STEPHEN ELLIOTT 351
bright, cheerful, intelligent, laughter-loving person, she suited
herself to her sober-minded and studious husband. She bore him
ten children and her three sons who reached manhood all became
Episcopal clergymen. A great tragedy in 1804, when two of
her children were suddenly taken by death during her absence
from home, much saddened her life. She was a powerful influ-
ence for good in the lives of her children. Her father, James
Habersham, a noted patriot of the Revolutionary period, was
the first lay reader of the Episcopal church in Savannah.
BERNARD SUTTLER.
f ofm CUtott.
JOHN ELLIOTT, lawyer and United States Senator, was
the son of Col. John Elliott and the grandson of John
Elliott, who was one of the original settlers of the famous
Midway colony in Liberty county, Ga., which with a total of
seventy-one families settling there between 1754 and 1771 has
furnished to the State of Georgia over one hundred eminent men.
John Elliott was born October 24, 1773. His people were able
to give him good educational advantages, and he graduated from
Yale College in 1794, studied law, and began the practice of his
profession at Sunbury, Liberty county.
On October 1, 1795, he married Esther, daughter of Dr.
James Dunwoody. A daughter of this marriage, Esther Ama-
rantha, married James Stephen Bulloch, grandson of Archibald
Bulloch, the first Governor of Georgia in the Revolutionary
period, and this James Stephen Bulloch was the grandfather of
our late President Theodore Roosevelt.
Mr. Elliott practiced law with success, was chosen at different
times to fill various local offices, and in 1819 was elected United
States Senator from Georgia, serving from December 6, 1819,
to March 3, 1825. He died at Sunbury on August 9, 1827, in
the fifty-fourth year of his age. He was recognized as a sound
lawyer and a well equipped public man, whose loyalty to his
State and country was of the highest type.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
$eter Carlp.
PETER EARLY, lawyer, congressman, circuit judge and
tenth governor of Georgia, was a large figure in that stir-
ring period of Georgia's history between 1800 and 1815.
He was born in Madison county, Va., on June 20, 1773, of a
family which had then been settled in Virginia for four or five
generations and which yet has many descendants in the Old
Dominion. He received his preparatory studies at the Lexing-
ton Grammar School and was afterwards graduated from Wash-
ington College. He was the salutatory orator on Commence-
ment day, and it is said that the subject of his speech was "Sym-
pathy." A man of generous impulse, it was natural for him to
discuss such a question. After the Revolutionary War closed
there was a large immigration of Virginians to Georgia and
among them came, in 1792, Peter Early's father, who settled in
Wilkes county. Young Early was then studying law under Mr.
Ingersoll, at Philadelphia. He remained behind until the com-
pletion of his course, and then followed his family and settled
for the practice of his profession at Washington, the county
seat of Wilkes county.
One year thereafter he married Miss Ann Adams Smith, the
only daughter of Francis Smith. It was a very young couple,
his wife being only about fourteen years of age at the time of
their marriage. The country was settling rapidly and oppor-
tunities opened up for young men of Mr. Early's ability, and he
soon rose to be one of the prominent leaders at the bar of his
circuit. An able contemporary said of him that while he was
not an eloquent man, he was a perspicuous and impressive
speaker and in the arrangement of his argument superior to
nearly any man of his day. He had a very clear conception and
forceful manner of presentation. In 1801, being then only
twenty-eight years old, he was elected to the United States Con-
23
354 MEN OF MARK
gross, and speedily took a prominent place in Congress, and in
the impeachment trial of Justice Samuel Chase before Congress
he was one of the managers of the prosecution with Randolph,
Rodney, Nicholson, Clark, Campbell and Boyce. His argu-
ment is said to have been the best offered by the prosecution.
He remained in Congress until 1807 and then declined reelec-
tion. Returning home he was immediately elected by the Leg-
islature judge of the Superior Court of the Ocmulgee Circuit.
He made a very able judge, considerate, courteous, prompt in
decision and thoroughly independent of outside conditions.
His decisions were everywhere held as sound law by the ablest
jurists of the day. At that time the position of a circuit judge
was much more prominent than it is to-day, and in a few years
Judge Early had attained such eminence that in 1813 he was
easily elected governor of the State. This was in the midst of
the war with Great Britain. Our country had met with disaster
after disaster. The times were in every way unpropitious. Geor-
gia already had soldiers in the field and the Secretary of War
had called for three thousand five hundred more men. Money
was scarce, supplies were scant, a long seacoast to be defended,
and a thorough revision of militia laws necessary. In his inaug-
ural address delivered November 5, 1813, Governor Early com-
pletely recognized and squarely met the necessities of the situa-
tion, and in patriotic sentences set before the people his deter-
mination to meet every emergency without flinching. A broad
minded patriot when the military operations in the South were
imperiled for want of money, and the army officer in charge
appealed to the governor for help, owing to the failure of the
national government to furnish the necessary means, the gov-
ernor promptly drew his warrant upon the State treasury for the
eighty thousand dollars needed, with no other security than the
personal pledge of the officer and his knowledge of the necessi-
ties of the case. A gentleman of pessimistic turn who witnessed
the transaction cautioned the governor that the union of the
States might not be of very long duration, in which case each
State would have to defend itself and rely upon its own resources,
PETER EARLY 355
and suggested that it might be well to husband Georgia's
resources. To this Governor Early replied in a sentence that
should be immortal, that "he hoped such things would never
happen, but if it should he had no wish that Georgia should
survive the general wreck, but wanted to swim or sink
together."
The Indian troubles had become more and more acute as a
part of the general turmoil then existing, and General John
Floyd, at the head of an expedition composed of Georgians, had
penetrated their country and was carrying on determined war-
fare, and in his message of October 18, 1814, Governor Early
brings up the abhorrent aspects of the warfare as it was then
carried on and suggested that in the future a practical system
should be established for the protection of the country, so that
warfare when necessary might be of a civilized character. A
second time, upon his own responsibility, when the operations
were hindered for want of money, he assumed personal responsi-
bility and furnished the money. In his message of November
8, 1815, he congratulates the people on an honorable peace and
thanks heaven for it. In 1808 the Legislature had passed what
is known as the "Alleviating Law," the purpose of which was
in the nature of granting an extension of time to distressed debt-
ors under stipulated conditions. The law had been in force six
years and was reenacted. Governor Early vetoed the bill to
reenact, and for the time being this rendered him very unpopu-
lar. He knew that he was right and was so disgusted with the
public attitude that he made known his intention to take no
further part in public life. It is worth while to quote here the
concluding paragraph in his veto message: "Contracts between
individuals are matters of private right and no reason of State
can justify an interference with them. They are sacred things
and the hand of the government can never touch them without
impairing public confidence. The alleviating system is be-
lieved to be injurious to the moral principles of the community.
It accustoms men to consider their contracts as imposing no
moral obligations and by making fraud familiar destroys the
356 MEN OF MARK
pride of honesty. On the ground of expediency also I feel com-
pelled to hold my assent from the bill." The bill was passed
over the governor's veto, and at the end of his term he retired
to his home in Greene county, much disgusted and fully expect-
ing never again to hold public office. The people of his home
county would not accept this position and promptly elected him
to the State Senate. He was ill when the session opened or he
would have been made president of the Senate. Since 1801
he had been a resident of Greene county and the people of that
county had implicit confidence both in his integrity and his
judgment. While serving this term in the Senate he died on
August 15, 1817, at the age of fifty, at his summer residence
near Scull Shoals in Greene county. He was buried on the
west bank of the Oconee near his residence and his last resting
place marked by a simple monument.
Governor Early was one of the strong men of his day. Strong
in ability, strong in moral fiber, strong in patriotism, and ren-
dered most valuable public service to the young commonwealth
of Georgia. In 1818 a new county organized in the southwest-
ern part of the State was given his name in a desire to perpetu-
ate the memory of a useful public servant.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
JUNIUS HILLYER was one of the strong men of our coun-
try in his generation. A native of Georgia, he was of
Puritan stock, the seventh in descent from John Hillyer,
who settled at Windsor, Conn., in 1639, and who was the pro-
genitor of the Hillyer family in the United States. In no fam-
ily of our country have the distinctive traits of the Puritan sur-
vived in greater strength than in the Hillyer family. Junius
Hillyer was born in Wilkes county, April 3, 1807, and died in
Decatur, DeKalb county, June 21, 1886. He was the second
son of Shaler and Rebecca (Freeman) Hillyer. His two
grandfathers served in the Revolutionary armies. His paternal
grandfather, Asa Hillyer, was first a private and then a surgeon
in the Continental troops furnished by Connecticut. His ma-
ternal grandfather, John Freeman, was a Continental soldier
from Georgia and served the greater part of his time under
Elijah Clarke. He participated in the battles of Kings Moun-
tain, Cowpens, Ninety-Six, Kettle Creek, Savannah, Charles-
ton, and rose to the rank of captain. Shaler Hillyer, his father,
died when Junius Hillyer was fourteen years old, and his
widow removed to Athens, Ga., to educate her three sons, John
F., Junius and Shaler G.
Junius Hillyer was graduated at Franklin College, now the
University of Georgia, in 1828. During his senior year he
studied law and was admitted to the bar in a month after leav-
ing college. He immediately began the practice of his profes-
sion at Lawrenceville, Ga. He only remained there one year,
when he returned to Athens, which became his permanent home.
The bar of what was then known as the Western Circuit con-
tained many brilliant men, such as Howell and Thomas R. R.
Cobb, Charles and William Dougherty, William Hope Hull,
Nathaniel G. Foster, William C. Dawson, Alexander H. Ste-
phens, Robert Toombs and Cincinnatus Peeples.
358 MEN OF MARK
Of great industry and commanding' ability, Mr. Hillyer soon
took rank with these giants of the profession and held his own
with the best of them. His ability as a lawyer was recognized
in a few years from one end of tho State to the other. He had
unusual success in the courts in handling his cases, whether on
the civil or criminal side of the court, and was notable for his
power with juries. His position at the bar naturally threw him
to a certain extent into public life. A lifetime Democrat, iden-
tified with the party from the time of its organization under
Andrew Jackson, he became by the vote of the people or the
Legislature, solicitor-general, and then judge of the Western
Judicial Circuit of Georgia. His election as solicitor-general
came in 1834, when he was only twenty-seven years of age.
After serving in that capacity and as judge, he was elected to
the Thirty-second Congress, which met December, 1851, and
reelected to the Thirty-third. His career in Congress brought
him into national prominence, and after the accession of Presi-
dent Buchanan, he was appointed, December 1, 1857, to be
solicitor of the United States treasury, which position he held
until February 13, 1861, when in <M>iiH'<|iienee of Georgia's
secession he resigned and returned to Georgia. This closed his
public career, and the remainder of his life was spent as a pri-
vate citizen in the practice of his profession.
Judge Hillyer was always active in promoting the educa-
tional and industrial interests of Georgia. For many years he
served as a trustee of the University of Georgia, and also of
Mercer University. Possessed of fine business capacity he was
one of the first to see the advantages of railroads, and became
one of the original projectors and stockholders of the Georgia
Railroad, the first to be built in the State.
In 1826 he joined the Baptist church and for sixty years was
a consistent member of that denomination, and a strong sup-
porter of its institutions. On October 6, 1831, Judge Hillyer
married Mrs. Jane (Wat-kins) Foster, daughter of George and
Mary Early Watkins, of Greene county. Those who knew Mrs.
Hillyer testified that she was a woman of strong intellect and
JUNIUS HILLYER 359
most amiable character. She died in 1880 at Decatur, Ga., to
which place the family had removed in 1871. Of Judge Hill-
yer's marriage there were eight children born : Dr. Eben Hill-
yer, of Rome, Ga. ; George Hillyer, of Atlanta, Ga. ; Maj. Sha-
ler Hillyer, of Selma, Ala. ; Mrs. Mary H. Whitfield, of Deca-
tur, Ga. ; Carlton Hillyer, of Augusta, Ga. ; Henry Hillyer, of
Atlanta, Ga., and Misses Kate R. and Eva W. Hillyer, of Deca-
tur. Major Shaler Hillyer died in 1868. The remaining chil-
dren are yet living, and all of the sons have achieved promi-
nence in life. Judge George Hillyer is now vice-chairman of
the Georgia Railroad Commission, and has been for many years
a leading citizen of the State. Henry Hillyer, of Atlanta, is
a retired lawyer and successful business man. The other sons
have been equally successful in their chosen careers. Judge
Junius Hillyer was a man of strong intellect, of excellent attain-
ments, of most rigid integrity, who during his entire life pos-
sessed the absolute confidence of the people of Georgia, whom he
served faithfully, and was accorded without dissent a position
of eminence among the strong men of Georgia in that brilliant
period of its history.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHES.
JAMES JONES, one of the strong figures of the early days
of Georgia, was a native of Maryland, and brought to Geor-
gia when a very small boy under the care of his uncle,
Colonel Marbury. He received a modest education at the
academy in Augusta and at the age of eighteen entered the
office of a prominent lawyer in Savannah as a clerk and stu-
dent. In a short time after his admission to the bar he became
prominent both as a lawyer and a public man, but upon his mar-
riage he retired from practice and became a planter. At the
age of twenty-three the people of Chatham county elected him
to the General Assembly. In that body he speedily took a high
place and for several years stood at the head of the Chatham
delegation. He was a member of the Legislature of 1795,
which passed the celebrated Yazoo Act, and though a firm
opponent of that measure was unable to defeat it. In 1796
in conjunction with other patriotic members of the General
Assembly they succeeded in passing the bill rescinding the
Yazoo Act, In May, 1798, he was a member of the State Con-
vention which framed the Constitution, under which Georgia
lived for nearly seventy years. He was a warm advocate of the
assertion of Georgia's rights to the whole western territory as
far as the Mississippi river. In October, 1798, he was elected
a representative to the Sixth Congress of the United States.
Out of a total vote of ten thousand he received all but three
hundred, a very strong evidence both of his reputation and his
personal popularity. He was at that time one of the most
valued members of the Republican party, as the Democratic
party was then known.
Mr. Jones was an eloquent speaker, strongly opposed to the
administration of President Adams, and largely contributed to
securing the vote of Georgia for Jefferson. He died at the post
of duty in Washington city, on January 12, 1801, and was
JAMES JONES 361
buried in the Congressional cemetery alongside of his political
and personal friend, Gen. James Jackson.
The Hon. William Law, a prominent man of Savannah in
the next generation, was his son-in-law. As there were several
men of his name prominent in the State during the period of his
activity, he was familiarly known as "Chatham Jemmy," to
distinguish him from the others. When the Legislature cre-
ated a new county in Middle Georgia in 1S07, he was honored
by having his name given it.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
&lpljonsio Jf eto.
THE REV. IGNATIUS ALPHONSO FEW, LL.D.,
founder and first president of Emory College, came of a
family with a remarkable history in Georgia. William
Few, Sr., the Georgia progenitor, was a native of Maryland.
He emigrated to North Carolina in 1758, and he, with his
grown sons, took part in the troubles of that colony. After the
battle of the Alamance in 1771, as a result of which one of his
sons, Capt. James Few, was hanged by the British authorities—
the first martyr to the cause of American independence — the
Few family emigrated to Georgia and settled near Wvightsboro,
now McDuffie county. The breaking out of the Revolutionary
War found every member of the family in the patriot armies.
William Few, Sr., an old man, was a colonel in the Commis-
sary department. Benjamin Few, a son, colonel of militia;
William Few, Jr., lieutenant-colonel of militia ; Ignatius Few,
lieutenant-captain, and brevet-major of dragoons in the Conti-
nentary Army. In addition to these, two sons-in-law, Rhesa
Howard and Col. Greenbury Lee, were also active. They made
a fine record in the war, and after the war, Benjamin and Wil-
liam Few, Jr., became leading citizens and public men of
Georgia.
Dr. Few was a son of Capt. Ignatius Few, of the Continental
Army, above mentioned. He was born in Columbia county,
April, 1789. (One authority says April 11, 1790.) His
father was a man of means, able to give his son the best educa-
tional advantages, and young Ignatius was entered a student at
Princeton University and graduated in due course. He studied
law, but being possessed of independent fortune, does not
appear to have given much time to the practice. When the
war of 1812 began, he entered the army and rose to the rank
of colonel. At the close of the war he went to Augusta and
resumed practice of the law.
IGNATIUS ALPHONSO FEW 363
It is said that at that time he was inclined to infidelity, or
agnosticism, but preachers of all denominations always met
with a cordial welcome at his home. lie does not appear to
have given much personal thought to religious matters until
about 1826, when he was converted under the ministry of some
Methodist preacher and joined that church. Almost immedi-
ately he entered the Methodist ministry, and in a few years
became one of the most prominent men in Georgia Methodism.
The Methodists had been making some efforts in an educational
way, throwing some support to Randolph-Macon College, in Vir-
ginia, and organized a manual labor school near Covington,
Newton county. This effort was a failure, and the Conference
under the influence of Dr. Few, in 1836, decided to establish a
college. Fourteen hundred acres of land were purchased near
Covington, a village laid out, Dr. Few elected president, and in
1837 the corner stone of Emory College was laid. The new
college opened under the presidency of Dr. Few on September
10, 1838. In July, 1839, after its first year of operation, his
failing health compelled his resignation. His health continued
to decline, and he died at Athens, Ga., on jSTovember 28, 1845.
The famous Judge Longstreet succeeded Dr. Few as presi-
dent, and he was followed by Dr. George Pierce, afterwards
Bishop. The college has steadily grown in strength, in influ-
ence, and in the extent of its curriculum, and to-day Emory
College bears ample testimony to the wisdom of its founder.
After his death the minutes of the Georgia Conference show
this expression of regard for Dr. Few: "He gave early indica-
tions of those powers of mind for which he was so much distin-
guished in after life, but which unfortunately were not directed
to religion and the Christian ministry at an early period. His
conversion did not take place until long after his maturity, and
shortly afterwards he offered himself for the self-denying, cross-
bearing duties of the itinerant ministry. Born to fortune,
gifted with extraordinary abilities, bred to the law, given to
philosophical studies, an erudite scholar and an accomplished
gentleman, he came among us as one of Christ's little ones, and
364 MEN OF MARK
lived and died equally approved for meekness and purity of
heart as he was admired for greatness of mind, profound schol-
arship, and surpassing dignity of manners. Besides his fruit-
ful ministry, in preaching the gospel, he was by eminence the
patron of learning in the Georgia Conference, and to him we
are indebted for Emory College."
BERNARD SUTTLER.
gutter
THOMAS BUTLER KING, statesman and philanthropist,
was born at Palmer, in Hampshire county, Mass., August
27, 1800. He died at Waresboro, Ga., May 10, 1864.
Mr. King was of English descent. Among his first ancestors
coming to America was John King, of Edwardstone, Suffolk
county, England, who, in 1715 was the first settler on a tract
of land in what was then known as the Colony of Massachusetts.
For a generation or more this tract of land was known as Kings-
town. Afterwards it was called Palmer, where some of his
descendants now own property. His father, Daniel King,
grandson of John, immediately after the news of the Lexing-
ton alarm, joined the ranks of the Revolutionary patriots. On
account of valor he was soon promoted to the rank of captain,
remaining in this capacity until the end of the war. Soon after
peace was declared he married Miss Hannah Lord, of New
London, Conn., and removed to Wyoming Valley, Penn., where
he died in 1816. He left nine sons, the eighth of whom, Thomas
Butler, was placed under the care of his uncle, Gen. Zebulon
Butler, an Indian fighter and brave captain in General Wash-
ington's army.
Thomas Butler King was educated at Westfield academy,
afterwards studying law with Judge Garrick Mallory, of Phila-
delphia. Soon after his admission to the bar, in 1823, he came
South to visit his brother Stephen Clay King, living in Wayne
county. In 1824 he married Miss Anna Matilda Page, only
child of Maj. William Page, a rich Sea Island cotton planter of
St. Simon's Island, Ga.
In his early life Mr. King was a States-rights Whig and
soon began to take an active interest in public affairs, being first
elected in 1832 to the Senate of the State of Georgia, to which
place he was reelected, keeping his seat until 1837. A year
later he was elected to the National House of Representatives,
366 MEN OF MARK
serving continuously until 1849, when he resigned to accept the
mission from President Taylor to examine the new territory of
California,, which, according to the terms of a treaty of peace
between the United States and Mexico, had shortly before been
ceded to the United States. Owing to his masterly report of
this mission, great attention throughout the whole country was
drawn to the wonderful resources of the western slope.
In 1850 Mr. King received from President Fillmore the im-
portant appointment as collector of the port of San Francisco,
Cal. This post he retained but two years, his private interests
in Georgia inducing him to resign. On his return home, poli-
tics continued to engage his earnest attention, but changes in
the political situation, JSTorth and South, later induced him to
alter his attitude toward the Whig party, and henceforth he
supported the platforms adopted from time to time by the State
and ^National Democratic party. In the late fifties he was
elected Senator to the Georgia Legislature and was subse-
quently a delegate to the Democratic State Convention. As a
delegate-at-large to the ever-memorable National Democratic
Convention in 1860, his services were conspicuous. Another
distinguished honor conferred upon him was his appointment
in 1861 as commissioner to arrange a line of steamers for direct
trade with Belgium. This measure was under the act incorpo-
rating the Belgium-American Company, and provided for a
donation to Georgia of one hundred thousand dollars for a
period of five years. Owing to the Civil War his services in
this capacity were of short duration. In 1862 he was entrusted
by the Confederate government with a secret mission to Europe.
Mr. King was a broad-minded statesman whose services pro-
duced rich fruition. He worked with consummate tact to con-
struct two great benefactions now in use — first, Georgia's origi-
nal railway system, and second, the great Southern Pacific Rail-
road connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the
South. In 1840 he organized and became president of the
Brunswick Railroad and Canal Company. This enterprise was
intended to connect by both water and rail the city of Brims-
THOMAS BUTLER KING 367
wick with the leading markets of the West, from Alabama to
Texas.
Even as far back as the thirties of the nineteenth century
Mr. King was an active pioneer in linking by rail the Georgia
coast to the west gulf. He early foresaw the importance of
connecting the Atlantic seaboard with the new State of Califor-
nia, and would have carried his enterprise to early success if
the Civil War had not prevented. So impressed was Mr. King
with the importance of this transcontinental railway that in a
photograph taken at that time he sat with a pencil in hand point-
ing out on a globe the course this road should take. With
strange wisdom he foretold with much precision the direct route
of what is now the Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic Railroad.
This was at least thirty-five years before any of the northern
roads were constructed.
Mr. King's congressional career was strikingly valuable. He
was for years chairman of the House Naval Committee, and
gave it leading prominence, securing the establishment of the
National Observatory at Washington and the appointment of
Commodore Maury as its chief director. To his own State, his
services were particularly valuable. He secured the appropria-
tion for the erection of the custom-house and post-office building
at Savannah, at that time the finest fire-proof structure belong-
ing to the United States in the South. He was also active in
promoting steam navigation and establishing the Pacific and
Atlantic mail lines.
In a primary sense the name King signifies a head — a leader.
Whether from the Saxon Cyng, Welsh Cen or Ceaii, or Gaelic
Can, in all Teutonic dialects, these words have the same mean-
ing. In all relations of life, whether private, social or politic,
these terms fitly apply to Thomas Butler King, of St. Simon's
Island, Ga., his home after his marriage. Hospitality charac-
terized all of the sea-coast people. The well-furnished house of
the planter was always open to the traveler. Properly intro-
duced, he was at once made to understand that he was at home,
that horses, guns, boats and well-stocked libraries were all at
368 MEN OF MARK
his command. Socially, "Retreat," the name of Mr. King's
estate, was the mecca of all travelers. It was here that no one
could come and stay a week, or even a month, without feeling
that he was in no ordinary society, for in hospitality Mr. King
and his graceful wife were leaders. At the time he lived on St.
Simon's Island, and for many years before there were a dozen
or more wealthy families living there, the estate of each having
a distinctive name ; for instance, there was Kelvin Grove, The
Village, Black Banks, Hazard's West Point, Hampton Point,
Cannon's Point, Retreat, etc., the last-mentioned being the home
of Mr. King.
Maj. William Page, whose father was a planter in Prince
William Parish, South Carolina, and who had joined at sixteen
the forces of the Revolution under General Marion, moved to
Georgia with his negroes, first purchasing a plantation in Bryan
county, "Ottassee," now called "New Hope," and finding it
unhealthy, came to St. Simon's with his friend, Major Pierce
Butler. Major Butler brought with him a large body of
negroes and bought Butler's Island and Hampton Point at
the north end of St. Simon's, and at the same time Major Page
purchased lands at the south end of St. Simon's from the estate
of John Spaukling, and called his home "Retreat."
Here his only daughter, a lovely and cultured woman, after
her marriage with Mr. King, continued to live in affluence — a
noble example of a southern woman — as wife and mother — and
in her care and kindness of her people.
In all the relations of private life Mr. King's character was
pure and elevated, his conduct stainless. In the management
of his estates, and in his kindness to his negroes, he was an
example of a strong, energetic and noble nature. It was of
such men as Mr. King and his like that enabled Henry W.
Grady to once tell the ISTorth in a speech, "It is doubtful if the
world has ever seen a peasantry as happy and well-to-do as were
the negro slaves of America."
Mr. and Mrs. King had ten children, six sons and four daugh-
ters, viz: William Page, Thomas Butler, Henry Lord, Mallory
THOMAS BUTLER KING 369
Page, John Floyd and Richard Cuyler. One of the daughters
married Mr. Wm. A. Couper, another Mr. J. J. Wilder, another
Hon. Henry R. Jackson, orator and poet; the fourth married
Mr. John Nisbet. Four of his sons served throughout the Civil
War, each one distinguishing himself for bravery. Since the
war, his son, J. Floyd has represented the State of Louisiana
several times in the United States Congress.
R. J. MASSEY.
24
OTtUiam
WILLIAM SCHLEY, lawyer, legislator, judge, congress-
man, and the eighteenth governor of Georgia, was born
in the city of Frederick, Md., December 10, 1786.
His people removed to Georgia, and his education was obtained
in the academies of Louisville and Augusta. In 1812 he was
admitted to the bar, and practiced in Augusta until 1825, when
he was elected judge of the Superior Court for the Middle Dis-
trict. This office he filled with ability until 1828.
In 1830 he represented Richmond county in the General
Assembly, and in 1832 was elected a member of the Twenty-
third Congress as a Democrat, serving during 1833-4-5. In
1835 he was elected governor of Georgia, and served his full
term of two years. During his administration the second Creek
Indian war broke out, and in company with Generals Scott and
Jesup he repaired to Columbus, where for six weeks he re-
mained assisting the military authorities in every way possible
to bring about a speedy conclusion of the troubles.
In his first message to the Legislature in 1836 he strongly
recommended the construction of the Western and Atlantic Rail-
road. To this work he devoted much time. He twice visited
the engineers on the several routes for the purpose of giving
instruction and procuring information and had the pleasure
before the end of his term of signing the law authorizing the
construction of the road. During his term he recommended a
geological survey of the State, and the establishment of a lunatic
asylum.
Governor Schley was a pronounced Democrat, and a very
strict constructionist. In 1826 he published in Philadelphia a
digest of the ''English Statutes in Force in Georgia," in which
he placed notes on Magna Charter and strongly enunciated his
views.
It is not amiss to insert the exact, words of Governor Schley
WILLIAM 8CHLEY 371
in that connection. He said: "It was necessary in the forma-
tion of the Federal Government that each State should give up
a part of its sovereignty, delegating to the General Government
such powers as were necessary for its existence, and to enable
it efficiently to sustain its own dignity, and to protect the indi-
vidual States. This was accordingly done by the original fram-
ers of the Constitution, and their acts were ratified by the
States. But neither the Convention who formed nor the States
who ratified this Constitution had the most distant idea that
the doctrine of constructive power would be carried to the alarm-
ing extent contended for by some politicians of the present day,
and which threatens the total restriction of States-rights and
State sovereignty. If the doctrine be persisted in, and no rem-
edy be provided for the evil, the Federal Government, like
Aaron's rod, will swallow up the State Government, and a final
consolidation of the whole will put an end to that beautiful sys-
tem of liberty which is now the pride and boast of the free
people of these States."
Governor Schley was an able lawyer, a sound judge, and a
legislator of breadth and progressive ideas. Indeed, he may
be said to have been in advance of his time in many of his
ideas, and was a most statesmanlike executive. Profoundly
devoted to the State, and to the people of Georgia, he took a
deep interest in everything affecting their welfare and was
always ready to contribute of his time, his talents and his labor
to anything that would forward the interests of Georgia.
On December 22, 1857, a new county then being organized
in the southwestern part of the State, was named in his honor.
He died at Augusta, Ga., on November 20, 1858, nearly seventy-
two years of age.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
Jfort
GEOEGIA has produced but few men who will outrank
Dr. Tomlinson Fort. It matters not from what angle
he is studied. His versatility was as great as that of
Benjamin Franklin. For forty years he was the most distin-
guished physician of the State. During that same period he
was recognized as one of its foremost statesmen. For many
years as the president of the State bank, he was the leading
financier. He was also a naturalist and literatteur, a humani-
tarian, and a philanthropist. Whatever he undertook was well
done, and in the strenuous life of his generation, he easily stood
in the front rank.
The family was of English stock, founded in America by
three brothers, Moses, Arthur and Elias, who first settled in
North Carolina, Dr. Fort's father, Arthur Fort, was born on
January 15, 1750, and was living in Burke county, Ga., when
the Revolutionary War broke out. Before the war he had mar-
ried a widow, Mrs. Whitehead, whose maiden name was
Susanna Tomlinson. She was of Pennsylvania Quaker stock,
a small woman, dark hair and eyes, very gentle and loving dis-
position, whose children were greatly devoted to her. By her
first marriage she had one son, and by the second marriage,
eight sons and daughters. Of these children by the second
marriage, Tomlinson Fort was the fourth child, born on July
14, 1787. Arthur Fort, father of Dr. Fort, was a man of
strong native intellect with a passion for reading and was a
leading spirit in the stirring Revolutionary period.
At the age of fifteen he was lieutenant in the militia. Before
Georgia was organized as a State, he was a member of the first
executive committee. He was a member of the committee of
safety under Gov. John Adam Treutlen in 1777, and under
Gov. John Houston in 1778. He was a member of the Con-
stitutional Conventions of 1788 and '98. Prior to that, during
TOMLINSON FORT 373
the Revolutionary War, he had rendered gallant service as a
fighting man. In 1799 he was judge of the Inferior Court of
Warren county, and in 1809 judge of the same court in Twiggs
county. He lived until November 16, 1833, dying at the age
of eighty-three, and surviving his much-loved wife by thirteen
years. He was a Methodist in religion, and a man of stainless
reputation.
Dr. Tomlinson Fort, after obtaining such education as the
facilities of the time afforded, decided upon the medical pro-
fession, attended the Philadelphia Medical College in Pennsyl-
vania, and was duly graduated from that institution. He set-
tled in Milledgeville about his twenty-second year, after receiv-
ing his diploma, and spent the remainder of his life in that
town. He at once entered upon the practice of his profession
in which he speedily took prominent place, and in a few years
was recognized as the leading physician of the State.
His first public service was as captain of a volunteer com-
pany in the War of 1812. He served against the Indians in
Florida, and in September of that year was wounded in an
engagement with them. He returned to the practice of his
profession, which he pursued until 1818, when he was elected
to the lower house of the State Legislature from Baldwin
county, and was reelected successively for eight years, or until
1825. Those were stirring years in Georgia, owing to the trou-
bles with the Creek and Cherokee Indians, in an effort to extin-
guish their titles and get them removed from the State.
Dr. Fort became prominent from the start, and served as
member or chairman on all the leading committees. In 1826
he was elected to the Federal Congress, serving from March 4,
1827, to March 4, 1829. He was elected on the ticket as the
representative from the Sixth district. His associates on the
ticket were John Floyd, Charles E. Hayues, George R. Gilmer,
Wilson Lumpkin, Wiley Thompson, and Richard Henry Wilde.
Two of these men afterwards became governors, and four of
them were men of national reputation.
Dr. Tomlinson, during his entire political life was what
374 MEN OF MARK
would now be classed as a Bourbon Democrat. He believed in
Jackson's doctrine, that to the victor belonged the spoils, and
was always in favor of filling the official positions with men of
his own party. As a believer in the Democratic faith, he was
in his day an advocate of a tariff for revenue and an opponent
of the protective tariff theory. He made two or three very
notable speeches during his brief term in Congress, but declined
to be a candidate for reelection. It is believed that increasing
domestic cares and the necessity of closer attention to his pro-
fession decided him to retire from that service. In the year
1829 he was chosen a trustee of the University of Georgia, and
for twenty-seven years gave faithful service as a member of the
governing board of that great institution. About 1832 he
became president of the Central Bank of Georgia at Milledge-
ville, organized under an act of 1828. This was really the
State bank, and his position as president of it was almost like
that of a State controller of finances. For twelve years he ad-
ministered its affairs with unswerving fidelity. During those
years the bank had a stormy and checkered career, but its exist-
ence was justified by one thing it accomplished if it had never
done anything else, for it was by use of its notes that the West-
ern and Atlantic Railroad was built. After the crash of 1837,
the bank had great difficulty in realizing on its assets, and was
severely hampered by legislative action. Its payments in behalf
of the State had placed a grievous burden upon it at that time,
and Governor McDonald had to take the Legislature of 1840 by
the throat, as it were, to compel justice to the bank. After Dr.
Fort's death, Governor McDonald, in speaking of the bank,
said, ''He (Dr. Fort) found it under protest for a large debt,
and when he retired from it in the last of 1843 or the first of
1844 he left it in full credit, and its notes at par everywhere
except in Savannah and Augusta, in which cities they contin-
ued to be at a small discount, but a short time."
It is said that about 1836 Dr. Fort was offered the nomina-
tion for governor and also an election to the United States Sen-
ate, both of which he declined on account of financial difficulties
TOMLINSON FORT 375
at that time. Notwithstanding his personal financial difficul-
ties he tenaciously held on to the project of building the W. &
A. Railroad by the help of the bank, and contributed most
largely to the successful completion of that great line which
is now paying the State of Georgia an immense revenue. He
served as trustee of the lunatic asylum, whose construction was
largely due to his efforts, and was for many years physician at
the penitentiary. After resigning from the bank in 1844 he
took no further part in public life, but devoted himself to his
practice, which was very large. In 1849 he wrote a valuable
work called Fort's Medical Practice. This added greatly to his
reputation, and was extensively circulated in the South and
West.
The record of Dr. Fort's life proves him to have been a man
of enormous industry, and the fact that he succeeded in so
many different lines of effort, goes to show that if he had con-
centrated his work in any one direction, he would have been
perhaps the foremost man of his day in that pursuit.
On October 28, 1824, Dr. Fort married Martha Low Fannin,
of Madison, Ga. Her great grandfather was James Fannin,
or Fanning, as the name was originally spelled. He was an
Irishman born, came to America, and amassed a large estate.
When the colonies revolted against Great Britain, one of his
sons, Edmund, joined the English and became an officer in the
army and after the Revolutionary War became Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor of Nova Scotia. He always adhered to the old spelling of
the name, "Fanning." Edmund Farming's younger brother
adhered to the colonies and dropped the "g" from his name, sup-
posedly because of displeasure at his Tory brother. He became
a man of large property and the founder of a numerous family,
among his descendants being Col. James Fannin, who fell at
Goliad, Tex., fighting for Texan independance, and after whom
Fannin county, Ga,. is named.
Of Dr. Fort's marriage with Martha Low Fannin, there were
born thirteen children. Several of these died in early youth,
but a number of them still live. During the Civil War three
37G MEN OF MARK
of the sons, Dr. George W. Fort, John P. Fort, and Tomlin-
son Fort served with distinction in the Confederate Army, Dr.
George W. as surgeon of the 28th Georgia Eegiment, John P.
and Tomlinson Fort as officers in the First Georgia Regulars.
Col. John P. Fort yet survives as a resident of Mt. Airy, Ga.
Tomlinson Fort is a resident, of Chattanooga, Tenn., where
Catherine Haynes Fort, a daughter, still lives. Mrs. Julius L.
Brown, of Atlanta, is another surviving daughter. Dr. Fort
died at Milledgeville on May 11, 1859, in the seventy-third year
of his age, and is buried in the cemetery of that town, where he
lived an honored life of more than fifty years, and died lamented
by every citizen. The immediate cause of his death was
erysipelas of the head, resulting, however, from the old wound
received from the Indians in the War of 1812, forty-seven years
before. His widow survived him many years, and at the age
of seventy-seven wrote a most interesting memoir of the Fort
and Fannin families.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
Militant Terrell.
ONE of the most useful men in Georgia during his
life was Dr. William Terrell. He was bom in Fairfax
county, Va., in 1778, son of William and Lucy (Wing-
field) Terrell. He obtained a good classical education, and a
medical education from the Medical College of Philadelphia,
under the instruction of the famous Dr. Rush. Apparently his
family moved to Georgia in his youth, and he entered upon the
practice of medicine in Middle Georgia as soon as he left the
medical college. He became interested in politics and fre-
quently served his county as a member of the Legislature. In
1817 he was sent to Washington as a member of the Fifteenth
Congress, and reelected to the Sixteenth Congress, serving from
1817 to 1821. He declined a renomination in the last-named
year, having become weary of politics, and took up cotton plant-
ing, which he followed for the remainder of his life, becoming
one of the most scientific farmers in the State and giving much
time to the promotion of agricultural science. He was a most
accomplished and learned man in many directions, and in 1853,
in furtherance of his desires to promote agriculture, he donated
twenty thousand dollars to the University of Georgia to estab-
lish an agricultural professorship, to which his name was given.
He was married in 1818 to William Eliza, daughter of William
Rhodes, of Edgecombe county, ]ST. C. Of this marriage there
were born two daughters, one of whom married Edgar G. Daw-
son, of Baltimore. After a long, honorable and useful life Dr.
Terrell died at Sparta, Ga., on July 4, 1855, about seventy-
seven years of age. Terrell county, organized in 1856, was
named in his honor.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
3fett
GENERAL JETT THOMAS, in whose honor Thomas
county, Ga., was named, was born in Culpeper county,
Va., on the thirteenth of May, 1776. His father, James
Thomas, was a Welshman-born who had settled in Virginia, and
\v:is one of that great number of Virginians who migrated to
Georgia at the close of the Revolutionary \Y;u% and settled in
Oglethorpe county in 1784, where he took rank as a leader and
for several years represented that section of the State in the
State Senate.
Jett Thomas had no other educational advantages than were
to be found in the ordinary country schools of that period. He
grew up to be a man of solid understanding with a great fond-
ness for mechanical pursuits, and learned the trade of a car-
penter, from which he developed into a contractor, and amassed
a great fortune. From Oglethorpe he moved to Milledgeville,
where he built the state-house. After completing this, he moved
to Athens, and there, 011 May 29, 1805, married Miss Susan
Cox. When Athens was laid out, about 1803, he was one of
the first purchasers of lots in that town. He was engaged to
construct the buildings of Franklin College, which has since
developed into the State University, and while thus employed,
Dr. Meigs, the president of the college, gave him access to his
library, and after a hard day of labor in his ordinary work he
would devote the greater part of the night to study. In this
way, he became a man of wide information.
When the war of 1812 broke out he became captain of an
artillery company attached to the army of Gen. John Floyd
in its expedition against the Creek Indians. He greatly dis-
tinguished himself at the battle of Autossee. General Floyd, in
his account of the battle, said, "Captain Thomas's artillery
marched in front of the right column on the road. Captain
Thomas and his company killed a great many Indians, and
deserve particular praise." Later at Camp Defiance, in the
engagement which occurred there, General Floyd again said,
JETT THOMAS 379
that "the steady firmness and incessant fire of Captain Thomas's
artillery and Captain Adams's riflemen preserved our front line.
Both of these suffered greatly." General Thomas possessed
strong soldierly qualities, and was able to inspire his men with
his own spirit so that his artillery company became a tower of
strength to the little army. It is related that in one of the
battles mentioned the crew of one of his guns was so depleted
by the fire of the Indians that but three effective men were left.
At this moment when it seemed as if the Indians would capture
the cannon when ten of the thirteen men were dead or wounded,
one of the three remaining men, Ezekiel M. Attaway, with great
gallantry, seized the traversing handspike from the carriage of
the gun, exclaiming to his two comrades : "With this I defend
the piece as long as I can stand — we must not give up the gun,
boys — seize the first weapon you can lay your hands upon, and
stick to your posts until the last." This incident illustrates the
spirit which he instilled into the men under his command.
It is quite evident from the record that General Thomas,
though without early military training, was a natural soldier.
Upon entering upon the campaign he carefully drilled his bat-
tery at Milledgeville, then at Fort Hawkins on the Ocmulgee,
and then again when they reached Fort Mitchell on the Chatta-
hoochee. He appreciated the fact that his men must be well
trained to render effective service, and seemed to have the fac-
ulty of imparting his own spirit to his battery. As above
stated he was highly praised for the conduct of his battery at
Autossee. His contracting business had evidently made him
equal to acting as an engineer in that sort of campaign, for
when they moved forward from Autossee, some thirty miles, a
rude fortification was put up, known as Fort Hull. They
moved on again to the Tallapoosa, where Captain Thomas again
superintended the erection of Camp Defiance, which was de-
fended with his guns and with the rifle corps and the small
cavalry force which for purposes of defense were necessarily dis-
mounted. The Indians attacked at daylight and the fighting
was severe for three hours, at the end of which time they were
380 MEN OF MARK
completely defeated. The hardest fighting was at the point
where guns, numbers one and two, were stationed. At number
one, ten. or eleven out of the thirteen men in the crew went
down. The time of enlistment for his battery expired a short
time after the fight at Camp Defiance, but without consulting
the men, he held them two weeks over time until they could be
relieved by some Carolina troops. He then led them back to
Milledgeville and dismissed them without being paid off, as the
funds had not yet come to hand. He personally remained in
the service until peace was declared. It is said that his men
both admired and loved him. He kept a watchful eye over
their comfort ; 011 the march, finding a sick soldier in the bot-
tom of a wagon, he stopped the driver, examined the sick man,
took out his knife, bled him in the arm, bound it up and
ordered the driver to rest half an hour before driving on. This
man (Harris), at that time a mere youth, served as sergeant at
cannon number four, at Camp Defiance, lived to be a very old
man, becoming a doctor after the war, and always reverenced
the name of General Thomas, believing that he had saved his
life by his prompt attention.
After the close of the campaign in which he had made such a
reputation, he became very popular in the State, and was hon-
ored with the commission of major-general in the State militia,
and was presented by the Legislature with a jeweled sword.
Unfortunately he was attacked with cancer of the eye, and,
though several operations were performed, they were not suc-
cessful, and he died on the sixth of January, 181T, in the forty-
first year of his age, and was buried at Milledgeville.
Men closely associated with him stated that he was a man of
extraordinary intellectual strength, great industry and self-
reliance, sound judgment and inflexible honesty. With these
qualities, it is not surprising that he made a success of his pri-
vate business and gained public esteem to such an extent that
when a new county was organized in 1825 it was named in his
honor. A handsome monument, suitably inscribed, marks his
last resting place in the cemetery at Milledgeville.
(Miss) E. L. HOWARD.
II
' r A
TO
fa
eacl
porter.
ALFRED SHORTER, the founder of Shorter College at
Rome, affords the youth of Georgia a striking example
of what a penniless orphan boy of courage and character
can do. He was born near Washington, Wilkes county, Geor-
gia, November 23, 1803. His father, Jacob Shorter, was a
native of Wilkes county, Ga. His mother, Delphia Shorter,
was Delphia Henderson before her marriage. A cousin, Jacob
Shorter, moved to Alabama, where one of his sons, Eli Shorter,
became a judge, and another, John Gill Shorter, was elected
Governor of Alabama.
Alfred was an only son, and, while still very young, was left
an orphan. Confronted with the grim problems of life at an
age when most boys are in school, he bravely met them like a
man, and at sixteen went to Monticello and began the serious
work of life as a clerk in the store of a relative. His faithful
discharge of his duties was appreciated by his employer, and
each year brought an increase of salary. He wisely invested his
savings in real estate and thus laid the foundation of his large
fortune. In a few years his worth as a business man was still
further recognized by being given a partnership in the largest
store in town.
In 1834 he married a wealthy lady, Mrs. John Baldwin, nee
Martha Harper. He had no children, but reared a niece and
nephew of his wife, Martha Harper and Charles M. Harper,
giving them the care and attention of a tender and affectionate
father.
Having control of large wealth, he invested in lands in Ala-
bama, Mississippi and Georgia. In 1837 he moved from Mon-
ticello to Floyd county. Ten years later he moved to the
county seat, Rome, where he and his most estimable wife passed
the remainder of their days, with the exception of two years
which he spent in Thomas county during the War between the
382 MEN OF MARK
States. He returned to Rome in 1865. For many years he
and his wife were pillars in the Baptist church at Rome. They
gave liberally to every department of the church work.
He developed large commercial interests in Rome and was
president of the Rome Railroad. He was a man of sound and
unerring judgment, and every investment brought him large
returns. With this wealth at his command, he was able to
bestow benefits on others. His favors and charities were with-
out ostentation. His modest nature withheld from the
public eye the good deeds he performed. His calm, placid
exterior, caused many to think him stern and difficult to
approach, but those who knew him best loved him most. He
could read men. He could tell the true from the false. He
numbered among his close friends many of the leading men of
his day. Dr. P. H. Mell and Dr. Shaler G. Hillyer were
frequent visitors at his home. His personal and business
relations with that other pioneer of North Georgia, Mark A.
Cooper, and John P. King, of Augusta, were cordial and inti-
mate till the end of his life. Others of his contemporaries
who frequently enjoyed his hospitality were Dr. H. V. M.
Miller, Rev. Dr. Adiel Sherwood, Judge David E. Blount,
and Governor Charles J. Jenkins.
Although lacking a college education, he was in the truest
sense an educated man, for in breadth of intellect and compre-
hensiveness of mind he had no superior in the State. He
thought profoundly, and was unerring in his judgment. He
could discuss romance, history, subjects of state, commercial
and financial questions with the wisest and most cultured men.
His opinions were always heard with profound respect. He was
not only great, but he was good. On one of the most beautiful
hills of northern Georgia, with the cultured city of Rome lying
at its feet, an institution of learning was established in the
year 1873 and chartered under the name of "Cherokee Female
College."
In the year 1877 Colonel Alfred Shorter conceived the idea
WILLIAM RABUN 385
much wisdom. He united with the Baptist church at Powellton
at seventeen years of age, and was a zealous and exemplary
Christian to the end of his life. He took a leading part in the
religious and benevolent interests of his time. He was a man
of fine physique, tall and large, with no surplus flesh. He had
brown hair and blue eyes, with a countenance full of kindness.
In his county, his popularity was great and, while he never
urged upon his people any political claims he might have, for
many years he was their representative alternately in the lower
House and the Senate of the General Assembly. He was never
defeated for any office. He was a member of the State Senate
from Hancock county, in 1810, 1811, 1812, 1814, 1815 and
1816, and was president of that body from 1812 to 1816.
Upon the resignation of Governor Mitchell in March, 1817,
William Rabun, as president of the Senate, became Governor of
Georgia, ex-officio, until November of the same year, when he
was himself elected to fill that position by the State Legislature.
During his administration a spirited and notable correspondence
occurred between General Andrew Jackson and Governor Rabun
regarding an attack upon an Indian village called Cheha. A
Georgia officer, Captain Wright, it seems, had, through mistake,
destroyed Cheha in violation of the orders received from Gov-
ernor Rabun. General Jackson had promised protection to
that village, and its warriors were fighting with Jackson against
the common enemy, when it was attacked by Wright. Between
May, 1818, and September 1818, four letters upon this subject
passed between General Jackson and Governor Rabun. Short
extracts from these letters are as follows :
General Jackson writes : "That a governor of a State should
assume the right to make war against an Indian tribe in perfect
peace with and under the protection of the United States is
assuming a responsibility that I trust you will be able to excuse
to the government of the United States. That a cowardly
monster existed in the Union that would violate the sanctity of
the flag in the hands of a superannuated Indian is still more
25
386 MEN OF MARK
strange. You, sir, as a governor of a State within my military
division, have no right to give an order while I am in the field.
Captain Wright must be prosecuted and punished, and I have
ordered him arrested and put in irons."
To this Governor Eabun replied : "Had you been in posses-
sion of the facts that produced the affair, it is presumed, at least,
that you would not have indulged in a strain so indecorous and
unbecoming. I had on the twenty-first of March stated the con-
dition of our bleeding frontier to you and requested of you pro-
tection and supplies while I ordered out more troops, to which
you never deigned a reply. You state in a haughty tone that
I, as governor of a State under your military division, have no
right to give a military order whilst you are in the field.
Wretched and contemptible must be our situation if this be the
fact. When the liberties of the people of Georgia shall have
been prostrated at the feet of a military despotism, then, and
not till then, will your imperious doctrine be tamely submitted
to. Captain Wright, having violated his order by destroying
Clieha instead of Hoponnis and Philemis (against which his
expedition was directed), I had, previous to your demand,
ordered him arrested. I shall communicate the whole trans-
action to the president of the United States." Replying, Gen-
eral Jackson said: "I am not disposed to enter into any con-
troversy with you relative to our respective duties, but would
recommend an examination of the laws of our country before
you hazard an opinion on the subject. 'The situation of our
bleeding frontier' was magnified by those who had not under-
standing enough to penetrate into the designs of my operations."
To this Governor Rabun replied: "It is very certain that I
have never intentionally assailed your feelings or wantonly pro-
voked your frowns, and I flatter myself that it is equally certain
that I shall never find it necessary to court your smiles. You
are not disposed to enter into a controversy with me relative to
OUT respective duties, but recommend an examination of the
laws of our country before I again hazard an opinion on the
subject. Your advice is good and should be attended to, (at
WILLIAM RABUN 387
least), by all public officers. I hope that you will now permit
me in turn to recommend to you that before you undertake an-
other campaign you examine the orders of your superiors with
more attention than usual. You assert that the better part of
the community know too well that they have nothing to appre-
hend from a military despotism. And in proof of the asser-
tion, it might have been well for you to have called my attention
to your last proceedings at St. Marks and Pensacola, as offering
conclusive evidence on that point." Autograph letters signed
by General Jackson, giving the above correspondence and more,
are now in the possession of Mrs. W. J. Northen, a close rela-
tive of Governor Rabun, and are held as valued treasures of
the past.
On October 24-, a few days before the expiration of his term
of office, Governor Rabim became ill and died. The message
which he had prepared was sent to the legislature, Matthew
Talbot being governor pro tern. The message concludes thus:
"Upon a strict examination I trust it will appear to the satisfac-
tion of my fellow-citizens that in every situation in which I
have been placed, my highest object and only aim have been to
promote the interests and prosperity of our beloved country."
A statement eminently true. Eesolutions were adopted by the
Legislature requesting Keverend Jesse Mercer to preach Gov-
ernor Rabun's funeral sermon at the Baptist church in Mil-
ledgeville, the State Capital, on November 24, 1819, the execu-
tive and judicial officers of the State and the Legislature attend-
ing in a body. Eeverend Mr. Mercer was the leading Baptist
minister in the State at that time, and had been the close friend
of Governor Rabun from boyhood. Contained in the resolution,
also, was the following tribute : "The death of the late Governor
Rabun deprives society of an ornament, the State of an undevi-
ating and zealous patriot, and humanity of an unwavering
friend, and we despair of doing justice to worth so seldom
equaled. The eulogium of this excellent man is written in the
hearts of the people of Georgia. Nature had endowed him with
a strong and vigorous mind and a firmness of character which
:;ss MEN OF MARK
never forsook him. Love of order and of his country were
conspicuous in his every action, and justice, he regarded, not
only as a civil, but a religious duty. His public life flowed
naturally from these principles. His acts were marked with
an integrity which did honor to his station. His private virtues
were of the highest order. Who can estimate the loss to society
of such a man ? Yet to Eabun, death was a welcome messenger.
How great, how sublime does he appear, when calmly resigning
the fullness of earthly joy to the triumphant hope of everlasting
happiness."
At the time of his death Governor Rabun was the clerk of the
Baptist church, at Powellton, of which he was a member, secre-
tary of two missionary societies, and the clerk of the Georgia
Baptist Association. Once each month, while Governor, he
went from Milledgeville, the State Capital, to Powellton, to dis-
charge his duties as clerk of his church.
Upon the formation of Eabun county, in 1819, it was named
in honor of the lamented subject of this sketch.
On November 21, 1793, Governor Rabun married Miss Mary
Battle. He was survived by his wife and seven children, six
daughters and one son. He was a tender and kind husband and
loving father, a humane and indulgent master to his servants, a
constant friend, and pleasing companion to his neighbors, a
bright ornament to Christianity, and a firm and honored ruler
in his State.
ANNIE BELL NORTHEN.
OTabbell.
WE are disposed to think that our educational methods
of the present represent a great advance on those
prevailing a century ago. It can easily be shown,
however, that the men turned out under the old fashioned
methods of those days were the equal in scholarship and states-
manship of any ever known at any period of the world. A
system must be judged by its results, and a system which
turned out the splendid men who made this country in its early
days must have had in it much of merit. The old time school-
master believed that in the schoolroom as in the State, govern-
ment meant the enforcement of law, and the infraction of law
was invariably attended by an adequate and certain penalty,
and that penalty was usually the rod. In the early years of the
nineteenth century, ISTathan S. S. Beman, a native of IsTew York,
established a high school in Hancock county, Ga. This school
was for both boys and girls, and was intended to fit his pupils
for the duties and business of life, or to prepare them for the
more advanced classes in the few colleges which then existed.
This school rapidly gained celebrity and was easily the most
famous of its day. Xathan Beman's system was Draconian in
its character. He knew of but one penalty for the broken law,
the rod, and he visited that penalty upon all violators, irre-
spective of condition or age.
A younger brother of JSTathan, Carlisle Beman, trained under
the elder brother, acquired almost equal distinction, and later
became president of Oglethorpe University, a Presbyterian
school fostered by that church in Georgia, South Carolina and
Florida. From that position Carlisle Beman resigned because
the trustees forbade his flogging students more advanced than
the Sophomore class.
In these same years Moses Waddell, the subject of this sketch,
was shaping a school under somewhat the same methods, in
390 MEN OF MARK
South Carolina. It is worthy of note that the two Bemans,
ISTathan and Carlisle, and Moses Waddell, were regularly or-
dained Presbyterian ministers. Another notable fact is that
their success was so great that both Xathan Beman and Moses
Waddell were, at different times, elected to the presidency of
the Georgia State University. Billington Saunders and Otis
Smith, both of whom, in those years, served as president of
Mercer University, a Baptist institution, believed that the way
to a boy's brain was directly through his back. Under such
men and such methods the great men of the first half of the
nineteenth century were turned out. William Waddell, the
father of Moses Waddell, emigrated from the north of Ireland
in 1766 to make a new home in America. He was accom-
panied by his wife, Sarah Morrow Waddell, and five daughters.
Entirely without means, he accepted the enforced landing of his
vessel at Charleston, and finally located in Rowan county, N". C.
His first years were very hard. On July 29, 1770, Moses Wad-
dell was born in Rowan county. At six years of age he became
a pupil of one Mr. McKown, an excellent teacher. As the
school was more than three miles from his father's house, and
Moses was a feeble little fellow, he was not able to attend more
than half the time, but he learned to read accurately and to
write a fair hand. In 1778, when he was eight years old, he
was entered at the boarding school of Mr. James McEwen.
This school was founded by Rev. James Hall, and called by
him, "Clio's Nursery." Though only eight years old, Moses
was at once put at the study of Latin. Among his classmates
was Edward Harris, who became Supreme Court judge of ]STorth
Carolina for life ; David Purviance, and Richard King, who
were ministers of the gospel ; and James Nisbet and Joseph
Guy, who were successful physicians and members of the State
Legislature. This school, then under the superintendence of
Francis Cummins, was suspended May 12, 1780, because of the
surrender of Charleston to the British. The school was resumed
in April, 1782, under the direction of Mr. John Xewton, an
MOSES WADDELL 391
excellent and successful teacher, who afterwards became a min-
ister of the gospel.
Moses Waddell continued upon attendance in this school until
the summer of 1784, and though only fourteen years old at that
time, he had completed the study of Latin, Greek, arithmetic,
Euclid's Elements, geography, moral philosophy and criticism.
He became greatly attached to his teacher, and in later years
gave to one of his sons the name of John Newton, as a token of
his esteem. Application was made to Dr. Hall for the services
of one of the best linguists to become an instructor in the
academy newly established at Camden, S. C. Dr. Hall wanted
Moses Waddell to accept the position, but his father, while
appreciating the compliment, thought he was too young. The
youth then became a teacher in Iredell county, 1SF. C., where
he gave great satisfaction. But the failure of his health com-
pelled him to abandon the school. Upon recovery, he resumed
his teaching until the latter part of 1786, when he came on a
prospecting tour to Greene county, Ga., then a frontier settle-
ment. He was so delighted with this section that he induced
his parents to change their location and join him in Georgia.
Orange Presbytery of North Carolina had sent Rev. Mr.
Thatcher as a missionary to this part of Georgia, and under
his ministry Moses Waddell was converted. He united with
the Presbyterian church at Bethany, Greene county, Ga. Dur-
ing these years he continued his work as school teacher with
abundant success. For a time he did not open and close the
school with prayer, but a series of great storms aroused his
conscience, and finally gave him sufficient courage to perform
what he believed a duty, and the remainder of his life he
opened and closed his school every day with prayer. Finally
he became seized with the conviction that it was his duty to
enter the ministry. Making such scant preparation as his lim-
ited means permitted, he started out on his long horseback ride
to Hampden-Sidney College, Va., which he reached in Septem-
ber, 1790. So well prepared was he, that lie was graduated in
September, 1791. He presented himself to the Presbytery of
392 MEN OF MARK
Hanover., in Campbell county, Va., as a candidate for the min-
istry. He was admitted and licensed by the Presbytery May
11, 1792. On April 11, 1793, he was received by the Presby-
tery of South Carolina as a licentiate, having letters of dismis-
sion from the Presbytery of Hanover.
His first charge was at Carmel church in Georgia, beginning
April, 1794. In June following, he was solemnly ordained to
the work of the gospel ministry. In his first year, he became
profoundly impressed that it was his duty to teach as well as
to preach. He selected a country place about two miles east
of Appliug, the county seat of Columbia county. Here he for
two years taught during the week, and ministered to his congre-
gation on Sunday. At the end of that time, he decided that it
would be better to move his school to the village. Among his
pupils at this time was William H. Crawford, who afterwards
became one of the most distinguished citizens of the nation, and
whose entire scholastic training was received from Dr. Wad-
dell, as he never attended any other institution of learning.
About this time Dr. Wadddl received a call to the Abbeville
i >i;-trict, S. C., in what was then known as the "Calhoun Settle-
ment," so called because the family of Calhoims had selected
this part of upper Carolina for settlement when they were
driven from Virginia by the Indians in 1756. Patrick Cal-
houn, father of John C. Calhoun, was at the head of the settle-
ment, and an elder in the Presbyterian church. Here Dr. Wad-
dell met the lady who afterwards became his first wife, Miss
Catherine Calhoun, the only daughter of Patrick Calhoun. In
1795, during his residence in Columbia county, he was married
to Miss Calhoun. She survived the marriage but little more
than a year, leaving an infant daughter, who soon followed the
mother. John C. Calhoun, the younger brother, was under the
tuition of Dr. Waddell for two years, during which time he was
prepared for the Junior class of Yale College. Upon the death
of Mrs. Waddell, and the subsequent death of her father, Mr.
Waddell suspended the active operations of his school for several
years, and devoted himself exclusively to preaching the gospel.
MOSES WADDELL 393
In 1801, he removed from Columbia to Vienna, Abbeville Dis-
trict, S. C., and opened a school without ceasing his labors as a
minister. The county was then a section of fertile lands inhab-
ited by a refined and prosperous people, including the villages
of Petersburg, Lisbon and Vienna, all of which have since
decayed and are buried in desolation and ruins. For four years
he continued his school at Vienna.
While in attendance at Hampden-Sidney College in Virginia
in 1793, he became greatly attached to Miss Elizabeth Woodson
Pleasants. The acquaintance culminated in an engagement for
marriage. The parents of Miss Pleasants objected because the
home of the young minister was located in the wilds of Georgia,
a frontier State exposed to devastation by Indians. The young
people accepted the situation, and later Mr. Waddell married
Miss Calhoun. After her death, he remained a widower four
years, and, having learned that Miss Pleasants was still unmar-
ried, he renewed his suit, and was married to her in 1800.
In 1804 he moved his school to a pleasant location about six
miles south of Vienna in a community of strong Calvinistic
Presbyterians, Scotch-Irish, and French Huguenots. The
school known as Willington Academy, had, from the beginning,
a very large patronage. Delightfully situated, and far removed
from the dissipation of the cities, each student closely watched
by the capable principal, the scholars made rapid progress, and
grew up into splendid men and women. Dr. Waddell did not
hesitate to use the rod when it became necessary, but he first
exhausted all other resources. The penalty for violation of law
was sure and certain, but never unjust. His idea of discipline
comprehended a cooperative system. He organized a system
of monitorial supervision, selecting capable students as monitors,
who were expected to report upon all infractions of the law, and
in every case a fair hearing was given to the accused. He never
failed of success in mastering any pupil, however refractory, and
that his system was a good one was shown in after years in the
lives of the men who had been educated by him. The same
government that he applied in the school was administered by
394 MEN OF MARK
Dr. Waddell in his family, and he had the satisfaction of living
to see his children occupy highly honorable positions in the
community.
During all these years, his ministerial work was continued
regularly without interfering with his school duties, and during
the presidency of Dr. Maxey, the college of South Carolina hon-
ored him with the degree of Doctor of Divinity. While he is
best known in connection with the cause of education, it is a fact
that he was much sought and greatly beloved by the substantial
men of his congregations as a minister. His delivery was
earnest and animated but never violent. While he spoke from
notes he never used manuscript in the pulpit except in way of
reference. For fifteen years he maintained his school at Wil-
lington. In 1819 Dr. Waddell was elected president of the
University of Georgia, to fill a vacancy caused by the death of
Dr. Robert Finley. Dr. Finley came from ISTew Jersey to the
head of the University, but was in office onlv a few months when
v f tj
he died on October 3, 1817. In casting about for a successor,
the trustees selected Dr. Nathan S. Beman, who accepted, but
subsequently declined in deference to the wishes of an invalid
wife. Dr. Waddell was then elected. He hesitated, and held
the matter under consideration for some little time, that he
might seek divine guidance. Finally, he accepted and moved
to Athens in 1819. He found the university prostrated, with
only seven students in attendance. He entered upon his admin-
istration with his usual ability. He was always a strict discip-
linarian, and so great was his reputation that the number of
students rapidly jumped to one hundred. The school grew in
influence and public favor. lie was cordially supported by the
trustees, and he built up a high standard of morality and schol-
arship in the school. Firm and positive, but always kind, his
di-( inline was never relaxed, and he commanded the respect of
all the students. As always in those days, the question of
flogging came up. Dr. Waddell believed in the rod, and in
deference to his opinion, the board authorized the faculty to
remand refractory students to the grammar school under the
MOSES WADDELL 395
charge of Moses Waddell Dobbins, a nephew and namesake of
Dr. Waddell, who wielded the birch with skill and liberality.
While Dr. Waddell did not have to administer the rod, direct,
he had the satisfaction of knowing that it was being applied by
one reared under his training and skilled in the service.
Dr. Alonzo Church was associated with Dr. Waddell as Pro-
fessor of Mathematics, and succeeded him as president of the
University, and he bears testimony to the fact that Dr. Waddell
always had in view the spreading of the gospel. He saw that a
majority of the few schools then existing were largely under the
control of men who were ignorant, vicious and often infidel.
He, therefore, labored earnestly to influence as many as possible
of the students to consecrate their talents to the service of God.
After ten years of most successful service. Dr. Waddell, on
August 5, 1829, tendered his resignation as president, and deliv-
ered a farewell address to the board of trustees in public at the
close of the commencement exercises of that year.
After some months in Athens closing up personal matters, in
the latter part of February, 1830, he removed with his family
to Williugton, where he had spent so many useful years, and
settled down in the hope of having a few years of quiet peace
with freedom from responsibility. In this he was disappointed,
for on September 5, 1830, he suffered a stroke of paralysis, and
while he lingered for nearly ten years, his once clear intellect
was clouded, and he became but a shattered wreck. He died in
Athens, at the home of his son, Prof. James P. Waddell, on July
21, 1840, in his seventieth year. He left a record of usefulness
that will honor the state for all time to come.
W. J. ISTORTIIEN.
HERSCHEL VESPASIAN JOHNSON, twenty-third
Governor of Georgia, United States Senator, Confederate
States Senator, Democratic candidate for Vice-President,
is one of the most commanding figures in Georgia history. Gov-
ernor Johnson was born in Burke county, Ga., on September 18,
1812. After the usual preparatory studies, he entered the State
University at Athens and graduated in the classical course in
1834. He then studied law under Judge William T. Gould in
his famous school at Augusta, and was admitted to practice at
Augusta, Ga., in 1835. About the time he was admitted to the
bar he married Mrs. Anna (Polk) Walker, daughter of William
Polk, judge of the supreme court of Maryland, niece of Presi-
dent James K. Polk, and cousin of Gen. Leonidas Polk, the
famous Confederate soldier-bishop.
In 1839 Governor Johnson moved to Jefferson county,
bought an extensive plantation, and for the remainder of his
life divided his time between his planting interest and the prac-
tice of law. He speedily gained recognition and clients at the
bar, and in 1840 declined a nomination for Congress, but took
the stump for the nominee of his party. Richard H. Clark
says of him that he was then but twenty-eight years of age,
large and bulky of figure, a smooth face, looking like an over-
grown boy, that when he arose, his hearers did not expect much
because of his evident timidity, but they were soon surprised
by listening to one of the most powerful orators in the State or
Union. In this first campaign he won an immense reputation.
He was an ardent Democrat, ever ready to cross swords with the
Whig leaders. In 1843 he accepted a Congressional nomina-
tion, but the ticket was defeated that year. In 1844 he was
an elector on the Polk ticket and canvassed the State with a
successful issue. He was pressed for governor in 1845-1847,
but in the interest of his party at the critical moment he with-
;V.T
iT
GEORGE WASHINGTON TOWNS, lawyer, legislator,
Congressman, and Governor of Georgia, was born in
Wilkes county, Ga., May 4, 1801. His father, John
Towns, was a native of Virginia, and a gallant Revolutionary
soldier. He was a member of the Southern army and partici-
pated in the fierce battles of Cowpeiis and Eutaw Springs, be-
sides other engagements. A friend of John Towns, James
Hardwick, was killed in one of these battles, leaving a widow,
Mrs. Margaret Hardwick, whom John Towns afterwards mar-
ried, and of which marriage there were born four sons and three
daughters. Of these children Governor Towns was the young-
est. He was christened George Washington Bonaparte, but
about 1840 dropped the Bonaparte from his name, and is usually
known in history as George W. Towns. Soon after the Revolu-
tion John Towns emigrated from ^7irginia to Wilkes county,
Ga., where George was born. John Towns then moved from
Wilkes county to Greene, and thence to Morgan county, where
he died. His wife, Margaret, the mother of Governor Towns,
lived to an advanced age, and her son-in-law said that she was
as remarkable for her devoted attachment to "Georgy" as he
was for his kindness to her. She was a woman of great kind-
ness of heart and devoted piety, and her neighbors in Talbot,
where she lived the latter years of her life, regarded her as a
splendid representative of the excellent women of the pioneer
days. Governor Towns's father was not able to send him to
college, but he was fond of study and devoted all the leisure that
he had from farm work to the perusal of books, and by the time
he was grown was well grounded in science and literature. He
commenced the study of medicine under Dr. Branham, of Eaton-
ton, but while on a visit to his parents in Morgan, he was
thrown from a horse against a stump and gravely injured in the
chest. From this accident it is probable that his constitution
400 MEN OF MARK
never fully recovered. He gave up the thought of medicine and
went to Montgomery, Ala., at the age of twenty, where he read
law under Mr. Benson, a prominent lawyer of that time.
About that time he married Miss Campbell, a sister of John
W. Campbell. She was in feeble health, and died a few days
after the marriage, producing a great shock upon the sensitive
mind of Governor Towns. He speculated with some success in
town lots in Montgomery, and was for a brief period interested
in the mercantile business in Talbot. He became colonel of
militia in Talbot by popular election, but did not long continue
his connection with the militia. Almost immediately after
entering upon the practice of his profession his personal popu-
larity, which was great, carried him into politics. In 1829 he
was elected to the lower house of the General Assembly. In
1830 he was reelected, and in 1832 he was in the State Senate.
In common with every Georgian of that day, he took an active
part in the tariff controversy which led to the nullification pro-
ceedings of South Carolina, the Georgians in that controversy
being opposed to the action of South Carolina, and in a conven-
tion held in Georgia bearing upon this matter Colonel Towns
was prominent, and voted in favor of the resolutions asking
South Carolina to retrace her steps. Colonel Towns, however,
was a Democrat, and believed strongly in the reserved rights of
the States. In 1835, having borne himself well in the General
Assembly, he was elected a member of the Twenty-fourth Con-
gress as a union Democrat, serving from Decembei 7, 1835, to
September 1, 1836, when he resigned. He was elected again
to the Twenty-fifth Congress, and served the full term.
He appears then to have retired for the time being from
active political life, and devoted himself to the practice of his
profession, but when Washington Poe, a member of the Twenty-
ninth Congress, resigned, he became a candidate for the vacancy,
was elected, and took his seat January 27, 1847, serving for the
remainder of that Congress. He was a candidate for reelection,
but to his great mortification was defeated by John W. Jones.
This, however, but led to greater preferment, for the Democratic
GEORGE WASHINGTON TOWNS 401
State Convention of June, 1847, recognizing his service to the
public and his availability as a candidate, nominated him for
Governor against Gen. Duncan L. Clinch, the Whig candidate,
and Governor Towns was elected by a majority of 1,289 votes.
In 1849 he was renominated, and defeated his Whig competitor,
Edward Y. Hill, by a majority of 3,192 votes.
It was his melancholy duty while Governor, on December 5,
1849, to give his official sanction to the legislative resolutions
relative to the death of his former competitor, the gallant sol-
dier, Gen. Duncan L. Clinch. During his second term, on the
tenth of December, 1850, two hundred and sixty delegates
assembled in convention to discuss the question then agitating
the country and which finally led up to the Civil War, and that
convention adopted by a vote of two hundred and thirty-seven to
nineteen what was known as the "Georgia Platform," and which
was a strong affirmation of the rights of the slave-holding States.
His term as Governor was distinguished especially by the
method of taxation which he devised and which was regarded at
the time as creditable both to his economic judgment and states-
manship. In November, 1851, he retired from the executive
chair, one of the most popular men in the State.
While in Congress, he married the second time, Miss Mary
Jones, daughter of John W. Jones, of Virginia, former Speaker
of the United States House of Kepresentatives, and who also
served with conspicuous ability as chairman of the Committee
of Ways and Means. Of this marriage there were five daugh-
ters and two sons. His wife was an accomplished woman, de-
voted to the superintendence and education of her children, and
their married life was one of great happiness.
Those who knew Governor Towns well state that he was a
Chesterfield in his address ; a man of great suavity of disposi-
tion and ease of manner. He was courteous and unpretending
with plain people and diplomatic with those of greater preten-
sion. He was a man of refinement of character and very sensi-
tive feelings. His politeness was not studied, but was natural,
and his personal popularity was great with all ranks of the peo-
26
402 MEN OF MARK
pie, because they recognized that this courtesy was inborn and
grew out of natural kindness of heart. At the bar he ranked
high as an advocate. He had a pleasing address, considerable
forensic skill, and while not an orator of the first rank he was
wonderfully successful before a jury, and it is said of him that
several murderers escaped through his skill as their attorney.
Those who knew him intimately alleged that there was a timid-
ity in his character which made him always desirous of post-
poning difficulties, but when the fight did come he bore himself
gallantly enough.
When he retired from the office of Governor he was only fifty
years old, had a great reputation as a lawyer and looked for-
ward to many years of active practice of his profession. In a
few months, however, he was stricken and lingered in a deplor-
able condition, unable to write a line and almost unable to
articulate, until July 15, 1854, when he died at his residence
in the city of Macon, in the fifty-fourth year of his age.
In 1856 a new county was organized on the north border of
the State, to which the Legislature promptly gave his name.
In that coterie of brilliant men who adorned the history of
Georgia during the first half of the nineteenth century, George
W. Towns deserves a high place.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
Jf reeman OTalfeer.
IN studying the lives of the distinguished men of the first
two generations after our Revolutionary struggle, one is
struck with three notable features. The first is the large
number of them who died at a comparatively early age, showing
how little the medical faculty was able to do against diseases
prevalent at that time. Next, it is, in the light of the present
centralization of powers in the Federal Government, a curious
fact that nearly all of the leaders in that period preferred to
give their public service to the State rather than to the Federal
Government, and even the ablest of them always cheerfully and
gladly served their people as members of the General Assem-
bly. Another feature is their frequent resignation from the
Congress of the United States whenever any measure came up
that in the slightest conflicted with their convictions. Mem-
bers of the Senate and the lower house would promptly resign
and retire to private life whenever they felt that they were not
in accord with their constituents on any public question, or when
some public question was voted over their heads and against
their convictions. Still another noticeable feature of the times
was that the majority of the great leaders of that day did not
seek public place. As a rule it came to them unsought.
Among the notable men of the first half of the nineteenth
century was Freeman Walker, who was born on October 25,
1780, in Charles City, Va., and lived there until he was sixteen
years old. Meantime his older brother, George, had moved to
Augusta, Ga., and married Miss Eliza Talbot, a sister of
Gov. Matthew Talbot, of Georgia. In 1796 young Walker came
to Augusta and made his home with his brother George, who was
a lawyer of some note and had a fairly lucrative practice. He
entered his brother's law office, applied himself closely, and was
admitted to the bar in 1802. His success was immediate. So
quickly did he make his mark in his chosen profession that he
404 MEN OF MARK
felt justified iu marrying, and on April 29, 1803, be married
Miss Mary Garland Creswell, a niece of his brother George's
wife. Mr. Walker bad pronounced military tastes, and in those
days nearly every man of prominence was a member of the State
militia. He attained the rank of major in the State troops,
and this title remained with him through life and was the one
by which he was known to all of his acquaintances.
In 1807 Richmond county sent him to the Legislature. For
three years he was the city attorney of Augusta, which then
elected him mayor. He was in fact the first mayor of Augusta,
for the old title was "Intendant," and was not changed to
"Mayor" until during his second term as mayor. On Decem-
ber 8, 1819, he resigned the mayoralty to fill the place of United
States Senator, succeeding the celebrated John Forsyth. The
city council passed the following resolution : "The resignation
of the Mayor having been received, the council in accepting it
can not but regret the loss of so valuable a member of their
board, though they feel gratified that the circumstances which
occasioned the resignation have placed him in a situation where
his talents may be more useful to his country." In 1821 he
resigned his seat in the Senate, and resumed the practice of law,
which he continued until his untimely death, September 23,
1827, in the forty-seventh year of his age. His body rests in
the Walker cemetery, near the United States arsenal in Augusta,
Ga. His monument bears the following beautiful inscription
written by his friend, Richard Henry Wilde: "Consecrated
to the cherished memory and mortal relics of Freeman Walker,
an able, successful advocate, a graceful and fluent speaker. His
influence as a statesman, his reputation as an orator, his urban-
ity as a gentleman, were embellished and endeared by social and
domestic virtues. Long a distinguished member of the bar,
often elected to the Legislature of the State, he at length became
one of her senators in Congress, and retired, after two years
of honorable service, to resume a profitable profession, which
he practiced with untiring industry and unblemished character
until shortly before his death. Generous, hospitable, and
FREEMAN WALKER 405
humane, of cheerful temper and familiar manner, he was
idolized by his family, beloved by his friends, and admired by
his countrymen. Even party spirit in his favor forgot some-
thing of its bitterness, and those who diifered from the politi-
cian did justice to the man. Born in Virginia, in October,
1780, his brilliant and useful life was terminated by a pulmo-
nary complaint on the 23d of September, 1827, in the forty-
seventh year of his age." Richard Henry Wilde, himself an
able man of discriminating judgment, was not influenced alto-
gether by friendship in writing the monumental inscription
above quoted, and it was the consensus of opinion among all of
the contemporaries of Major Walker that he was a man of the
first rank and ability, of spotless character, and a patriot who
was an honor to his country.
Walker county, organized in 1833, was named in honor of
Major Walker.
AGNES WALKER PENDLETON.
STEPHEN UPSON, eminent lawyer, and able jurist, was
born in Waterbury, Conn., in 1785. His parents were
puritanical in the strictest sense. After attending the
usual schools of the day, he entered Yale College, and was
graduated in 1804 with a high reputation for scholarship.
After graduation, he studied law under Judge Reeve, at Litch-
field, whose school, at that day and for fifty years thereafter,
had the reputation of being the leading law school in America.
Ill health rendered it necessary for him to remove to a southern
climate; and in 1807 he left his native State and came to Han-
over, in Virginia, where he had letters to Colonel Pope. Here
he remained a short time, employing himself in teaching the
Colonel's children and reading law. The Colonel became much
attached to Mr. Upson, and did everything in his power to
render his residence with him agreeable ; but finding that the
climate of Virginia did not improve his health, Mr. Upson de-
termined to try that of Georgia. The Hon. William H. Craw-
ford, who then resided in Lexington, and to whom Mr. Upson
had brought letters from Colonel Pope, immediately perceived
that the stranger was a man of no ordinary merits.
At this time Mr. Crawford was a leading jurist and states-
man of Georgia, having represented his county in the Legis-
lature for many years ; he was consulted upon all important and
exciting questions. In 1813, declining the appointment of Sec-
retary of War in President Madison's Cabinet, he accepted the
appointment of Minister to France, where he remained two
years, during which time he not only showed himself to be of a
fearless advocate of his country's rights, but gained the favor
of Parisian society by his open manners and instructive con-
versation. In fact, it is said of Mr. Crawford that he is the
only man before whom the Emperor Napoleon ever raised his
hat. This, then, shows what an honor it was for Mr. Upson
STEPHEN UPSON 407
To have a letter of introduction to such a man as Mr. Crawford.
His modesty, his industry and intelligence prepossessed Mr.
Crawford in his favor, and he accordingly received him as a
student in his office, and afforded him many facilities, of which
Mr. Upson always retained a grateful recollection. He com-
menced the practice of the law in 1808. His mind and habits
were of such a character that he soon became distinguished in
his profession. To his business he devoted himself without
intermission. Company, amusements, everything was given
up, and he seemed to have no thoughts except those connected
with his profession. Merit like his could not long remain unre-
warded. The citizens of Oglethorpe were not slow in perceiv-
ing that if perseverance, integrity and legal knowledge could
insure success to any claims which called for the interposition of
the courts, then it would be prudent in them to secure the serv-
ices of Mr. Upson. Accordingly, business came to him from
every quarter. Persons from a distance came to Lexington to
consult him on legal subjects. Mr. Crawford, having the high-
est opinion of Mr. Upson's abilities as a lawyer, placed in his
hands some important cases. Indeed Mr. Upson possessed in a
very high degree the confidence of this eminent man, who was
in the habit of freely communicating to him his views on the
various subjects which at that time agitated the people of
Georgia.
When the Hon. Thomas W. Cobb, one of the most celebrated
lawyers in Georgia, was elected to Congress in 1816 and 1818,
and when he finally removed to Greensboro, Mr. Upson was left
without a rival in the Northern Circuit. All of his contempo-
raries speak of him as possessing a mind enriched with the
stores of literature, and a disposition peculiarly amiable and
obliging. A gentleman who studied law in his office says "that
his neatness of person and dress was peculiar. Dust could not
adhere to his clothes." His complexion was fair, and a little
florid ; his person tall and straight. He seldom laughed. Strict
economy, which was forced upon him in early life by the want
408 MEN OF MARK
of means, never left him, even when he had acquired a large
fortune.
In 1812 Mr. Upson married Miss Hannah Cummins, young-
est daughter of the celebrated Dr. Francis Cummins. Mr.
Upson represented Oglethorpe county in the State Legislature
from 1820 to the period of his death, which took place August
24, 1824, aged 39 years. At the time of his decease he was
justly esteemed as the head of the Georgia bar, and had he lived
until the ensuing session of the Legislature he would doubtless
have been elected to the United States Senate. In that body he
would probably have held a higher grade than any gentleman
from Georgia since it was represented by Mr. Crawford.
In honor of this gentleman, during the year 1827, the Geor-
gia Legislature named one of the important counties of the
State. At this time, in Upson county, there are forty-seven
(47) schools, with a daily average of some nine hundred (900)
pupils in attendance.
K. J. MASSEY.
Spaniel Cmanuel
FOR one hundred and forty years the Twiggs family have
been represented in Georgia by men of commanding force.
General John Twiggs was one of the most noted characters
of the Revolutionary struggle, won the sobriquet of "Savior of
Georgia," and was prominent in public life for many years
after the war. John Twiggs married Ruth Ernanuel, a sister
of David Emanuel, one of the sterling patriots of the Revolu-
tionary struggle, prominent in the legislative bodies and at one
time acting Governor of Georgia. Both David Emanuel and
General John Twiggs have been honored by having counties
named for them. Major-General David Emanuel Twiggs, born
in Richmond county, in 1790, was the son of General John
Twiggs and Ruth (Emanuel) Twiggs. He grew up under the
most favorable conditions of the time, his father being a leading
citizen, and when the War of 1812 began, his native courage
and inherited patriotism carried him into the army.
On March 8, 1812, he was commissioned captain of the
Eighth Infantry, U. S. A. His soldierly abilities speedily won
recognition ; he was promoted to Major, and served under Gen-
erals Jackson and Gaines against the Indians and Spaniards
in Florida. He became a great favorite with General Jackson,
himself a stern soldier, which is strong evidence that General
Twiggs, even at that early period, was displaying unusual mili-
tary capacity. He remained in the regular army, serving
steadily in the various duties which fall to an army officer in
peace times, and on June 8, 1836, was commissioned Colonel of
the Second Cavalry. Under his capable hands, this regiment
soon came to be the best cavalry regiment in the army. When
the troubles with Mexico came on in 1846, Colonel Twiggs's
regiment was attached to General Taylor's army, and leading
the advance captured Point Isabel. For conspicuous gallantry
at the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma he was
410 MEN OF MARK
brevetted Brigadier-General. In the battles around Monterey
he commanded a division, and after the capture of the city
became the garrison commander, serving in this position until
ordered to join General Scott's army around Vera Cruz. He
participated in the siege of Vera Cruz, and in the battle of
Cerro Gordo led the main attack. His services were conspicu-
ous at Contreras and Cherubusco, and he led the final assault
on Mexico City. The close of the Mexican war found him
V
with high rank in the army, and recognized as a soldier of dis-
tinguished merit.
He was placed in command of the department of the West,
with headquarters at St. Louis, and remained there until 1857,
when transferred to the department of Texas, with headquarters
at San Antonio. When the internal troubles of the country, in
1861, became so acute as to threaten civil war, General Twiggs
held the rank of senior Major-General of the army, coming next
to Gen. Winfield Scott, and would have succeeded Scott as Lieu-
tenant-General had he remained in the service. He had always
been devoted to his native State, and when Georgia seceded he
immediately resigned his commission in the United States
army. The Confederate government commissioned him a
Major-General and he was stationed at New Orleans, but he was
now past seventy, infirm in body, and was compelled almost at
the beginning of the war to retire from active service. Return-
ing to Georgia, he died in Augusta, on September 15, 1862,
aged seventy-two years.
After the Mexican War, General Twiggs received as some
recognition for his splendid services in that struggle three mag-
nificent swords, one from Congress, one from the State of Geor-
gia, and one from the city of Augusta. The sword presented
by Congress had a solid gold scabbard and a jeweled hilt.
When General Twiggs left ]STew Orleans in 1862, he left these
swords in the care of a lady friend. They were found by Gen.
Benjamin Butler, the Federal commander of that city after its
capture by the Federals, and turned over to the government.
In 1889, after many years of effort, they were finally returned
by the government to the family of General Twiggs.
DANIEL EMANUEL TWIGGS 411
General Twiggs was twice married. His first wife was
Elizabeth Hunter, of Virginia. She left him a daughter, who
became the wife of Quartermaster-General Myers, C. S. A.
His second wife was a widow, of jSTew Orleans, Mrs. Hunt.
Of this marriage there was a son, John W. Twiggs, who became
a resident of San Francisco after the Civil War.
General Twiggs was buried in the old Twiggs cemetery, ten
miles from Augusta, on the property where he was born, which
property descended to his nephew, Judge H. D. D. Twiggs, of
Savannah, who in the present generation maintains the fame
of the family as one of the ablest and most brilliant lawyers in
Georgia, who has served with distinguished ability on the bench,
and was a gallant soldier in the Confederate Army during the
Civil War.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
J acoii Cagper OTalbijauer.
B
EFORE Oglethorpe came to Georgia fascinating descrip-
tions of the country reached the old world. One poet
declared :
" Heaven sure has kept this spot of earth uncurst,
To show how all things were created first."
and in no part of the colony were these promises nearer fulfilled
than with the Salzburgers, after their location on the Savan-
nah river at Ebenezer from 1736 to 1776.
The founder of our State returned to England and had two
laws passed prohibiting the importation of slaves and rum. He
then realized his fondest dreams for the stability of the colony
and set sail the second time for America December 10, 1735,
on the "Symond," 220 tons burthen, with 202 passengers. One
of these was Jacob Casper Waldhauer, a boy, who, with his
parents, German Lutherans, joined the Salzburger colony that
had reached Georgia the previous year. These Austrian Ger-
mans had passed through religious persecutions, been robbed,
imprisoned, beaten, driven into caves, hunted like wild beasts,
and some of them burnt at the stake. They had kept the faith
and were not forsaken. It was a tempestuous voyage, at times
the frail ship barely escaped destruction, but amid the wind and
waves, these Germans were calm and sang songs of praise to
God. Their sublime resignation aroused emotions in the hearts
of Charles and John Wesley, who were fellow voyagers, that
still agitate the spiritual world and made John Wesley declare
that "I, who have come to teach the Indians Christianity, am
not converted myself," and led these brothers into deeper con-
secration of heart and life.
The writer of this sketch has, in childhood, stood spellbound
as the grandson of Jacob Casper Waldhauer, with tear-filled
eyes, would tell of the happiness of his ancestors in Georgia in
colonial days. Accustomed to hardships, they soon overcame
JACOB CASPER WALDHAUER 413
them in this land of plenty, and by industry and frugality, in
two years, "Ebeiiezer" began to assume the appearance of a vil-
lage, giving evidence by its neat cottages of the presence of
civilization in the midst of savage tribes of Indians, with whom
they were always at peace. The little band rejoiced in what
they had long sought for in lands across the sea — freedom to
worship God, and realize the consolation of that religion for
which they had suffered the loss of all things.
The morning's from day dawn were devoted to work and the
afternoons to rest and social enjoyment. Hospitality abounded
and the humblest was not too poor to serve a visitor with a glass
of milk and a slice of kugelopf. At eventide the voice of prayer
and praise could be heard in every home.
They sustained a direct connection with the Trustees in Eng-
land and the Lutheran Church in Germany, and with aid from
the home land, built a school for orphans, and in 1767 Jerusa-
lem church, that still stands, although it has twice been dese-
crated by wars and twice restored. John Martin Bolzius, their
pastor, was one of the finest scholars of his day ; he was the tutor
of Jacob Casper Waldhauer and exercised a great influence over
his life.
Their municipal and civil laws were few and simple; their
church discipline scriptural and rigid: "At the head of the
community stand the pastors and elders of the congregation.
These constitute the umpire before which all questions, both
civil and religious, were brought ; and such is the integrity of
those who compose this tribunal, and such the prudence, wisdom
and impartiality which characterize all their proceedings, that
their decisions are always satisfactory and no appeals are ever
made from their judgments."
For many years Mr. Waldhauer was an elder in Jerusalem
church.
The only question that ever aroused dissension among the
Salzburgers was slavery. They strenuously opposed it, but
when Mr. Bolzius yielded his objection to this measure, his
influence led many to accept it on the ground that "by remov-
414 MEN OF MARK
ing the African from the heathenism of his native land to a
country where his mind would be enlightened by the gospel, and
provision made for the salvation of his soul, the evils of slavery
might be endured in consideration of the moral and spiritual
advantages which it bestows upon its unfortunate victims." By
this mode of reasoning and the influence of George Whitefield,
and an essay from the pen of James Habersham, they yielded
assent to what they admitted in the abstract was wrong.
M r. \Valdhauer then enlarged his farm into a plantation and
purchased slaves. At the time of his death, he owned thirteen
besides valuable property in Savannah, where he and his wife
sometimes resided with their daughters.
The repose of the colony Avas disturbed when news was
received of the first bloodshed of the Revolution in North Caro-
lina in 1771, with armed resistance to taxation without repre-
sentation. Gratitude to England induced some of the Salzburg-
ers to sign the protest of prominent citizens of Georgia to resist-
ance to Great Britain. But after the battle of Lexington,
April, 1775, they decided to take sides with the colonists. In
July of the same year Mr. Waldhauer was a member of the
Provincial Congress. Through the grand old woods he trav-
eled from his country home in a gig with a small, round hair
trunk strapped to the rack that rested on the axle.
All was life and activity in the beautiful old town, surrounded
by gigantic oaks, save where the Savannah wound its way to
the sea ; for during the fifteen years of Governor Wright's ad-
ministration, it had been greatly improved and Georgia now
had a population of 50,000. At Tondee's Tavern, at the corner
of Whi taker and Broughton streets, the Congress met, and a lib-
erty pole was erected near by. C. C. Jones's "History of Geor-
gia" says of that body : "Every parish was represented and the
delegates were fitting exponents of the intelligence, the domi-
nant hopes and the material interests of the communities from
which they came. This was Georgia's first secession convention."
Stirring events followed, and dear to the hearts of Georgians
are the men who defended her from oppression and aided in
JACOB CASPER WALDHAUER 415
founding our great republic. In the darkest days of that era
when British troops were in possession of Savannah, and the
Carolina soldiers had withdrawn from Georgia, we find in the
minutes of the Council of Safety, May 2, 1776, "application
for an order to procure such arms, bayonets and gunlocks as
may be in charge of Captain Jacob Casper Waldhauer at Ebe-
nezer, for the use of the battalion, which was granted." Captain
Waldhauer was also a magistrate, and the duties of that office
were important.
These facts, verified by the histories of our State, his grand-
son loved to relate, for he learned them from his mother, who
was born in 1767. Her most cherished memories were of the
home life of her father where, surrounded by his wife, one son
and four daughters, his devotion to them was beautiful, and his
sense of humor and cheerfulness remained until the hour of his
death in May, 1804.
When on the horologe of time the hour struck to call men
who were needed in a crisis that burst suddenly upon the world's
great drama, Jacob Casper Waldhauer, loyal to his duty and his
God, was prepared for his country's service. It is such charac-
ters that support the arch upon which our State rests, and by
their lives show why "Wisdom, Justice and Moderation" are
the pillars of our Constitution.
ISABELLA REMSHAKT REDDING.
George OTfjite.
ROBABLY the most valuable publications touching the
history of Georgia ever published are those old books,
the first entitled "White's Statistics of Georgia," pub-
lished in 1849, and the second known as ''Historical Collec-
tions of Georgia," published in 1855, with the Rev. George
White, M.A., D.D., as the author. But for these two books
there is an immense amount of data connected with the early
history of the State and with the men who made that history
that would have been utterly lost. It appears to have been a
work of love to the author, for one of his contemporaries is on
record as saying that there was no profit in the publications for
Mr. White. It is a matter of regret that the man who left
behind him a record of such valuable service to the State should
have left nothing by which his own record can be made up.
Our knowledge of him is all gained from others.
Dr. White was born at Charleston, S. C., March 12, 1802.
It is said that his parents were comparatively poor, but honest,
straightforward, industrious, and truly pious people. They
were members of the Methodist church and reared their son in
that atmosphere. He early showed that piety which marked
his whole life and desired to enter the ministry. In this he met
with no opposition, and a youth of eighteen he was licensed to
preach the gospel. It is said that he made an excellent impres-
sion and was soon known as "the beardless preacher." Becom-
ing dissatisfied with the system of government of the Methodist
church, he left its rank- and became a clergyman in the Episco-
pal church. It is possible that to some extent this was due to
the influence over him of Bishop Dehon, for whom in later life
he named one of his sons.
He became rector of a church in Georgia, and as far back as
1831, in addition to his ministerial work, was principal of the
Chatham Academv, in Savannah. He was known as a man
GEORGE WHITE 417
of much learning and an excellent teacher. In the Chatham
Academy he had five or six assistants and about two hundred
and fifty scholars as an average. He was a rigid disciplina-
rian, but kindly, and managed the institution, both teachers and
pupils, with military precision. Indeed, at one time he had the
boys organized as a military company. His pupils bore wit-
ness that he was an industrious and valuable teacher, a strong
believer in grounding a boy thoroughly in the rudiments, and
made them practice constantly in the "Three R's," even though
they had progressed to more advanced studies. Reading and
elocution were also stressed, and one of the scholars, who himself
rose to eminence, testifies that if a boy spent several sessions
under Dr. White and left him without being a good speller,
reader, and declaimer, it was because there were no faculties
in the boy to be developed. He did not permit any of the assist-
ant teachers to chastise the pupils. That luxury he reserved to
himself. He believed in Solomon's maxim, and did not "spare
the rod," or rather the strap. He was not cruel or severe, how-
ever, in his punishment ; as one of his scholars said, "The whip-
pings were frequent, but moderate.'" Later in life it is said that
his views became much modified 011 this line, and he questioned
the wisdom of corporal punishment. After many years of teach-
ing, he decided to abandon the schoolroom and devote himself
entirely to the ministry. In the meantime, he had gotten out
his two books, which placed the early history and biography of
the State in a shape that enabled the masses to procure it, and
thereby earned a debt of gratitude from all Georgians. His
work was specially commended by Stephens, Colquitt, Wayne
and other noted Georgians.
Judge Richard Clark, who was one of Dr. White's pupils,
gives a very interesting account of an incident that happened
while he was a pupil of the Chatham Academy. A large boy,
very plainly dressed and very backward in his studies, came to
the school. He was subjected to much mortification because
of his lack of attainments and the doctor allowed him to recite
27
418 MEN OF MARK
alone, seeming to have a special feeling of kindness for this
boy, who was also lame, and who had had so little opportunity.
The doctor's faithful work of kindness to this boy was repaid by
his career. A few years later he was admitted to the bar. In
three years from the time of his admission to the bar he was
the law partner of Hon. Joseph W. Jackson, one of the promi-
nent lawyers of the State, and though he lived but a year or so
longer, Nicholas Marlow, the lame scholar, had won an honor-
able place in the profession.
On December 13, 1833, Dr. White was ordained deacon in
the Protestant Episcopal church by Bishop Bowen. By the
same bishop, on August 31, 1836, he was ordained priest in St.
Michael's Charleston, S. C., assisted in the service by the
Reverend Messrs. Trapin and Dalcho. From about 1830 to
1855 was spent in Georgia in educational and ministerial work,
combined with the historical work above referred to; 1856
found him at work in Florence, Ala., where he remained during
that year and the next. He was then called to be the assistant
rector of Calvary Church, Memphis, Bishop Otey being in
charge as rector. After serving one year, the minutes of the
vestry show that Bishop Otey was continued as rector with Dr.
White as assistant rector one year from the 18th of January,
1859. At the end of that year he became full rector, and for
the succeeding twenty-four years discharged the duties of that
position with a fidelity never surpassed, and in a spirit of evan-
gelical Christianity, which built a weak congregation up to a
proud position of strength and influence. In 1884, being then
eighty-two years old, having served the church faithfully for
twenty-six years, his strength failed him and he was elected
rector emeritus. April 30, 1887, he passed away. The last
three years were years of great physical weakness, and practi-
cally of total disability, but his mind was clear to the last
and his cheerful spirit enabled him to bear all of his sufferings
with Christian resignation.
During his service in Memphis he went through three epidem-
ics, two of yellow fever and one of cholera. Through all these
GEORGE WHITE 419
trying periods, that of 1878-9 being the worst yellow fever epi-
demic ever known to our country, he, with his wife, who had
stood by his side then for more than fifty years, went from
house to house ministering to the sick and burying the dead.
His own household was invaded and his promising son, Dehon,
was taken.
The vestry of his church at a meeting held after his death,
which prepared and presented to his surviving family a beauti-
ful testimony, speaks of him as "a simple-minded, humble and
lowly rector, who left behind him noble works, a life of beauti-
ful simplicity, entire devotion to his flock, a godly, sober and
righteous life." He was a beautiful reader, his elocution both
in reading and speaking being perfect, and yet as simple as
that of a child. His congregation never wearied of hearing
him. Dr. White came as near being a natural Christian as it
is possible for a human. Born with a kindly spirit, he acquired
profound faith in the goodness, mercy and justice of God,
and his own work in life added year by year Christian graces,
until his latter years became a constant benediction to all with
whom he was brought in touch.
He married young, Miss Elizabeth Milieu, of Savannah,
Ga. Her father was a silk merchant. Of this marriage eight
children were born. Three only of these survived him : George
T. G. White, who was for thirty years southern manager of
the Equitable Assurance Company, of New York, well known
and highly regarded in Georgia, was the only surviving son,
and he died some twelve years ago. The present surviving
children of Dr. White are Mrs. Laura Leath and Miss Tallulah
Georgia White. Dr. White to the last days of his life cher-
ished a profound affection for Georgia. Some two or three
years before his death he paid a visit to Atlanta for the especial
purpose of seeing the old State and talking with a few of his
old friends who were then surviving. The two given names of
his younger daughter give evidence of his feeling for Georgia.
His wife, a Georgia woman, walked beside him for more than
sixty years and preceded him to the spirit land only a short time.
420 MEN OF MARK
For twenty-five years he was prelate of Memphis Commandery,
No. 4, Knights Templars, and during his life it is said of him
that his charities, his unaffected and kindly manner, and his
«/
wide tolerance had made him a universal favorite in Memphis
with all classes of the community — Jew and Gentile.
TALLULAH GEORGIA WHITE.
foim CUtot Marb.
THE HO^. JOHX E. WARD admittedly ranks among the
ablest men that the State of Georgia has ever produced.
He was born at Sunbury, Liberty county, on October 2,
1814. His father, William Ward, was a member of the famous
Midway settlement, the only Puritan colony ever established in
the South, which came originally from Massachusetts to Dor-
chester, S. C., and then some twenty years prior to the Revolu-
tionary War moved to Liberty county, Ga. His mother, Annie
(Mclntosh) Ward, was a daughter of Major Lachlan Mclntosh,
and a sister of Commodore J. M. Mclntosh.
Mr. Ward entered Amherst College in 1831, but only re-
mained a little time, owing to the bitter feeling expressed in
that section towards the Georgians because of their activity in
relation to certain Cherokee missionaries. He attended law
lectures at Harvard, returned to Savannah, studied under pri-
vate tutors, and was admitted to the bar in 1835. In January,
1836, he was solicitor-general of the Eastern district for an
unexpired term and was continued in office by the Legislature.
In 1838, being then only twenty-four years old, he was ap-
pointed United States District Attorney. He resigned from this
office in 1839 to enter the State Legislature, where he acquitted
himself so well that he was returned in 1845 and again in 1853.
In 1852 when Senator Berrien resigned, Governor Cobb offered
the appointment of United States Senator to Mr. Ward, which
he declined, because of the demands of an immense practice.
In 1854 he served as mayor of Savannah. While in the
lower house in 1853 he was Speaker of the House. In 1856
he attended the Democratic National Convention at Cincinnati,
which nominated James Buchanan for president, and was
honored with the chairmanship of that convention. In 1857
he entered the State Senate, and was chosen president of that
body and acting lieutenant-governor. In 185S ho ^vns tendered
422 MEN OF MARK
the appointment of United States Minister to China, and re-
signed from the State Senate to accept this appointment. He
departed for China in January, 1859, and held the position
until 1861, when he resigned on account of the secession of
Georgia, and returned to the United States. He was the first
regular American minister, or minister of any other nation, to
visit Pekin and hold counsel with the chief officials, those who
preceded him being merely commissioners. His service while
in China was said to have shown remarkable diplomatic capac-
ity to such an extent that he was tendered the thanks of the
British government for certain services rendered by him to
citizens of that nation.
While in the State Senate in 1857 he was the leader in the
great controversy then raging over the banks, and took issue
with Governor Joseph E. Brown. He came down from the
rostrum where he was presiding, took the floor, and made a
speech, said by many competent judges to have been the strong-
est speech ever made in the Georgia Legislature upon any
subject.
Mr. Ward was strongly opposed to secession, though a Demo-
crat, and it is reported that the Hon. Alexander Stephens said
that if Ward had been in Georgia in 1860 and the early part of
1861 they could have saved the State from seceding. Perhaps
no stronger testimonial to Mr. Ward's ability and influence
could be given than this opinion of Mr. Stephens. His contem-
poraries bore witness that he was a brave, honorable, broad-
minded statesman, a lawyer of the very highest capacity, and
an incomparable presiding officer for legislative bodies. He
took no active part in the Civil War, remained quietly at home,
and in January, 1866, he removed from Savannah to Xew
York, where he practiced law for thirty years. When he left
Georgia his prospects in public life were said to be of such a
character that he could have obtained any position within the
gift of the people of Georgia, but Mr. Ward was a great law-
yer, and before he was fifty years old is said to have made three
fortunes in the practice of his profession. Possibly he was
JOHN ELLIOT WARD 423
discouraged with the political outlook, and possibly the demands
of his family called him to a larger and more lucrative field.
Certain it is that after his removal to New York he took no fur-
ther part in public life.
When Li Hung Chang, the greatest of all Chinamen, visited
New York, a dinner was given him August 29, 1896, and Mr.
Ward, then a man of eighty-two, was called upon to preside,
lead the distinguished guest to the seat of honor, and to read
the toasts.
In his last days he returned to Georgia, and died in his
native county on November 29, 1902.
In 1839 Mr. Ward married Olivia Buckminster Sullivan, a
daughter of William Sullivan, of Boston. Of this marriage
there were several children born.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
35tcf)olag Ware.
DILIGENT search of all available records gives but little
information about Nicholas Ware. It is known that he
was born in Caroline county, Ya., son of Captain Robert
Ware, who was an officer in the Revolutionary War. There is
even a difference of opinion as to the date of his birth, one
record giving it 1769, and another one February 16, 1776.
After the Revolutionary War his father was one of that large
number of Virginians who emigrated to Georgia, and young
Nicholas was placed in the academy of Dr. Springer, where he
received a thorough English education, studied law in the city
of Augusta, and attended iaw lectures in the famous school of
Gould and Reeve, at Litchfield, Conn. Admitted to the bar,
he began the practice of the profession in Augusta, and rapidly
acquired a considerable practice. He was several times sent
by the people of his county to represent them in the General
Asesmbly, was very active in promoting the interest of the Rich-
mond Academy, and took a great interest in the cause of litera-
ture and education. He was a capable member of the Legisla-
ture, and much esteemed by his constituents.
In 1819 John Forsyth, then senator from Georgia, resigned,
and the vacancy was filled by the election of Freeman Walker,
at that time mayor of Augusta. Mr. Ware was elected mayor
to serve out the unexpired term of Freeman Walker, and when
Walker resigned from the United States Senate in August,
1821, he was elected to fill out Mr. Walker's term in the
United States Senate. This was rather a notable coincidence,
that two mayors of the same city should succeed each other in
the United States Senate. He served as Senator from 1821 to
1824, and in September of that year was in New York at the
time of Lafayette's visit to this country, which was being cele-
brated in that city. He was taken ill, and died there on Sep-
tember 7, 1824. He is said to have been a man of much indus-
NICHOLAS WARE 425
try, great ability, and unimpeachable honor, but the records
of that time are almost barren of statement about him beyond
the facts already cited. That he was highly esteemed in Geor-
gia is proven by the fact that in 1824 when a county was cut
off from Irwiu, it was named in his honor. Ware county is
to-day one of the largest and most flourishing counties in the
State.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHES.
fames fflloon OTapne.
JAMES M. WAYNE, associate justice of the Supreme Court
of the United States, was born in Savannah, Ga., in 1790.
His father was an Englishman horn, who after coming to
America married Miss Clifford, member of a South Carolina
family, which had been established in that State since 168T.
He first settled in South Carolina and later moved to Savannah.
Of the marriage thirteen children were born, of whom two only,
Judge Wayne and General William C. Wayne, lived to be
elderly men. Judge Wayne received the rudiments of an edu-
cation from a private tutor, Mackay. He entered Princeton
University and was graduated in the class of 1808. Returning
to Savannah he studied law for a few months under John Y.
Noel, and then went back to New Haven, where he became a
pupil of Judge Chauncey, a lawyer of great attainments and
an able instructor. Later in life he told a rather amusing
story of how he was catechized by Judge Chauncey before he
would accept him as a pupil. He also detailed his methods of
teaching, which go to show that Judge Chauncey was not only
himself thoroughly grounded in all the forms of law, but was
able to impart that knowledge to his students.
After concluding his studies with Judge Chauncey he re-
turned to Savannah and spent five months in the office of Mr.
Stites to familiarize himself with the Georgia practice. He
was admitted to the bar in 1810 and speedily attracted a good
clientage. The Legislature had passed what was known as an
alleviation law, under which debtors could not be sued. Judge
Berrien, then a leading judge, had declared this law unconsti-
tutional. Richard Henry Wilde, of Augusta, a great lawyer,
had published a strong argument against it. Public sentiment
in Savannah was opposed to the law, and candidates over the
State, for the General Assembly, were selected largely because
of their attitude upon this matter. Mr. Wayne became a can-
JAMES MOORE WAYNE 427
didate as an opponent of the law and was elected by a large
majority. In the discussion of the question in the General
Assembly, his argument was such an able one that he was re-
quested to publish it, which he did, and which gave him a repu-
tation and many friends over the State. He was reelected the
next year, 1822, but declined a second reelection because of his
election as mayor of Savannah in 1823. At that time he was
connected in a legal partnership with Richard E. Cuyler, after-
wards noted in the railroad development of the State. In 1824
he was elected judge of the Superior Court of the Eastern Cir-
cuit, and served in that capacity for five and a half years until
1829, when, having been elected to the Twenty-first Congress as
a Jackson Democrat, he retired from the judiciary to take his
seat in the Congress. He was reelected to the Twenty-second
and Twenty-third Congresses. In his Congressional career he
was a strong supporter of President Jackson's ideas. He was
opposed to the bank of the United States, favored President
Jackson's policy in opposition to nullification by South Caro-
lina, was a member of the committee on foreign affairs, a mem-
ber of the committee on commerce, of the library committee,
and served as chairman of a special committee to reorganize the
Treasury Department. He favored Jackson's policy in the mat-
ter of nullification by South Carolina, which action was de-
nounced by members of his own party, but was sustained by the
people of Georgia, who returned him to Congress with a larger
majority than ever. In 1835 he was tendered an appointment
as an associate justice of the Supreme Bench by President
Jackson. He decided to accept this, resigned from Congress
and spent the remainder of his life as a member of the Supreme
Court. He died at Washington July 5, 1867, about seventy-
seven years old.
Justice Wayne was recognized as one of the able men of the
Supreme Court. He was a lifelong advocate of economy in
government affairs, strongly opposed to the ideas of a protect! vc
tariff, always against a United States bank, and believed that
every form of governmental extravagance should be avoided.
428 MEN OF MARK
He was greatly interested in the Indian question and did much
towards helping the settlement of Indians on reservations. As
a member of the Supreme Court he was especially strong in his
knowledge of admiralty cases and maritime law, and made sev-
eral decisions in this class of cases. The case of Waring v.
Clark, in 1847, having been committed to him was handled with
great ability, and he laid down certain principles which have
since been generally accepted. He was also an authority on
the matter of the public lands which had been acquired by
treaty from foreign powers. In 1849 he was honored by
Princeton University with the degree of LL.D.
BERNARD SUTTLER.
Jlarfe OTtlcox.
MARK WILCO'X, legislator and soldier, was bom about
1800 in that part of the State of Georgia which was
afterwards organized into Telfair county in 1807. His
father, John Wilcox, is mentioned as one of the pioneer settlers
of Telfair county, having lived there several years before the
county was created. John Wilcox, being a man well-to-do in
worldly matters, gave his son Mark all the educational facili-
ties available in that country at that time. He became a man
of good English education and well informed. He was soon
prominent in county affairs, and was first elected to hold the
office of high sheriff for a number of years. After this, the
citizens of the county sent him as representative to the Georgia
Legislature for several successive sessions. The journals of
this body for many sessions, beginning with 1843, bear ample
testimony of the zeal, fidelity, and judgment, with which Mr.
Wilcox represented, not only the interest of Telfair county, but
the welfare of the State at large. During these sessions he
met such men as Robert Toorubs, James Meriwether, Miller
Grieve, Thomas Hardenian, James Lamar, Clark Ho well, of
Cobb ; John du Bignou, Isham S. Fannin, and many others, who
later made names for themselves in Georgia. With such men
he became a favorite. Although not gifted as a fluent speaker,
he was known as a man of splendid judgment, whose counsel
and opinion were almost always sought on matters of impor-
tance by his compeers.
About the period of Mr. Wilcox's public career, the military
spirit of the State was quite a feature. The entire militia of
Georgia was thoroughly organized and regular muster clays
were as regularly observed as court week or election days at that
time. All the militia officers were elected by the people and
commissioned by the Governor, but none were appointed by him.
The requisites for a militia officer most generally consisted in
430 MEN OF MARK
fine personal appearances, good horseback riding, suavity in
manner, and a general knowledge of military tactics. Mr. Wil-
cox, tradition says, possessed all these requisites. Conse-
quently, he was soon elected Captain of his militia district, being
rapidly promoted at other elections until within a few years he
became a Major-General of the Georgia militia.
Bearing this rank when in the Legislature, he was at once
made Chairman of the Military Committee. During those
good old ante-bellum days, up to the time of the Civil War, the
militia system of Georgia bore the impress of the work of this
good man. He was of economic turn, and in the Legislature
strongly urged the reduction of all expenses, giving special
attention to the fees of the officers of the various counties of the
State. Through him these fees were greatly reduced. He was
also opposed to dividing the State up into small counties. He
did not approve of banks loosely establishing distant agencies,
and strongly advocated the repeal of the charter of all banks fail-
ing to redeem in gold upon presentation any of their bills. He
was foremost in advocating the establishment of the Supreme
Court of Georgia, believed in State aid to the railroads, worked
ardently in behalf of the Western and Atlantic Railroad, was
among the first to urge the division of the State into eight con-
gressional districts instead of electing congressmen on the gen-
eral ticket, as was the custom at that time, a strong friend of
the lunatic asylum, and fought strongly against usury.
In his early youth General Wilcox married Miss Susan,
oldest daughter of Gen. John Coffee, of the same county, of
whom a sketch appears elsewhere.
He died in 1850, possessed of a large estate in Dodge county,
being a portion cut off from Telfair. In 1856, in honor of
General Wilcox, the Georgia Legislature commemorated his
public service by naming Wilcox county, in the south central
section of the State, in his honor. A. H. McRAE.
Jlatfmmel <§reen
NATHANIEL G. FOSTER, lawyer, legislator and judge,
was a native Georgian, born in the fork of the Oconee
and Appalachee rivers in Greene county, on August 25,
1809, the son of a Revolutionary sire, Arthur Foster.
After the usual studies in a preparatory way, he entered
Franklin College, now known as the University of Georgia, took
the classical course, and was graduated in 1829. He then read
law in the office of Judge Adam G. Saffold, in Madison Ga., and
was admitted to the bar in 1831.
He began the practice of his profession at Madison and spent
the remainder of his life as a resident of that town. He was a
gifted lawyer, a matchless story teller, an eloquent orator, and
an advocate seldom equaled at the bar.
In the Seminole Indian war of 1836, he was captain of a
company in the battalion commanded by Col. Mark A. Cooper,
another great Georgian of that period.
Judge Foster served in both houses of the General Assembly,
and was for three years solicitor of the Ocrnulgee Circuit.
While actively interested in political affairs, his time was given
most closely to the practice of his profession, in which he won
an eminent position. After the wreck of the Whig party and
the general confusion which ensued, between 1850 and 1860, he
affiliated with what was then known as the American party,
and was elected as a member of that party to the Thirty-fourth
Congress, serving from 1855 to 1857. After the Civil War he
served as Judge of the Ocmulgee Circuit, and died on October
16, 1869, leaving behind the reputation of an able lawyer, a
good citizen and a faithful public servant.
He was an ordained Baptist minister, and to the local work
of his church gave much efficient service.
Libert <§allatm Jf ogter.
ALBERT G. FOSTER, a brother of Judge Nathaniel G.
Foster, and his law partner until the death of the latter,
was born in the fork of the Oconee and the Appalachee
rivers, in Greene county, in 1820. He died at Poland Springs,
Me., where he had gone hunting for health, in 1880. He was
an industrious, able and successful lawyer who, with one single
exception, gave his entire time during his manhood years to
the practice of his profession. At the close of the Civil Wai-
he was strongly impressed that the true men of the South, who
had their all at stake in the country, should take charge of
public affairs, and that they should reorganize and shape the
policies and destinies of the Southern States. This view he
urged and counseled as the only way to avoid carpet-bag rule
and reconstruction. He urged that the best men go to the Con-
stitutional Convention of 1868. So firmly convinced was he
that it was their duty to do this, that for the first and only time
in his life he abandoned his law office and became a member of
that Convention. Subsequent events proved the wisdom of his
course and his counsel. After the passage of the bankruptcy
act of March 2, 1867, Chief Justice Chase appointed him Reg-
ister in Bankruptcy for two Georgia Congressional districts.
This and his membership in the Constitutional Convention,
were the only two public positions he ever held. He was the
intimate friend of General Robert Toombs, Judge Hiram War-
ner, Senators Joshua Hill and Dr. H. V. M. Miller. He found
his greatest pleasure in his work as a lawyer, and adhered tena-
ciously to his practice. He was recognized in the profession as
a thoroughly well-equipped and able lawyer, of the most honor-
able character.
/
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George Jflidjaei
IN the bright constellation of names which have illuminated
the history of Georgia, there is none which shines with more
effulgence than that of George M. Troup. Born in Revolu-
tionary times, he imbibed with his mother's milk the courage,
the sturdy independence and the love of liberty of the period.
His father was an Englishman, and his mother, one of the Mcln-
tosh family, so closely interwoven with the history of the State.
He himself was born in Georgia, in the territory now known as
Alabama. The date of his birth was September 8, 1780. His
youth and early manhood were spent in Savannah ; his maturer
years near Dublin, Georgia.
George Troup was sent to school at the Flushing Academy at
Flatbush, Long Island, where he imbibed from the principal of
that school the most decided republican principles. There were
together at that school twenty boys, nineteen of whom, in after
life, met as members of Congress. Troup was a studious boy,
quiet and thoughtful, but polite and friendly and warm-hearted.
He was tenacious of his honor, decided in character, and of un-
sullied reputation. He never engaged in a senseless prank or a
mischievous act. He entered college at Princeton, and grad-
uated with distinction in 1797. Among his contemporaries
were John McPherson Berrien and John Forsyth.
After graduation, Mr. Troup returned to Savannah and be-
gan the practice of law. His practice, however, never amounted
to much — he had an ample fortune and public duties claimed
much of his time. In 1801 he went to the Legislature ; in 1806
he was a member of Congress. In 1816 he was elected United
States Senator; in 1823 he was Governor of Georgia, and in
1828 again United States Senator.
The keynote to Mr. Troup's political career was his consist-
ent, uncompromising advocacy of States-rights. Early in life,
28
434 MEN OF MARK
he gave his adherence to the doctrine that the States were sov-
ereign and that all Federal authority was delegated.
From this position he never wavered. This contention over
the rights of the States which had always characterized the
o v
political parties of the country, and which brought on the great-
est war of modern times and which is yet undetermined, first
culminated in 1800 in the defeat of the Federalist, John Adams,
and the election of the Republican, Thomas Jefferson, to the
Presidency. It was the first defined contest between the sup-
porters of the two theories of the government, and was the be-
ginning of the two great parties. Mr. Troup, with his pro-
nounced Republican views, took an active part in this campaign,
and although not yet of age, so distinguished himself that he was
offered a seat in the Legislature, which he declined because of
his minority. Before he entered Congress, when he was but
twenty-seven years of age, he had a private and confidential
interview with the President on the state of the country and the
future of the party. This was an age when young men were
not invited to offer advice and it is a proof of the esteem in
which this young1 Georgian was held at Washington.
i/ O o
Mr. Troup's course in Congress was characterized by an un-
swerving devotion to the South, and the rights of the States.
For this reason he opposed the United States Bank, holding it
to be unconstitutional. But he would not shield the South at
the expense of the country's hoimr. VvThen France and England
were at war in 1807, Napoleon declared the ports of Great
Britain in a state of blockade; and England passed an "order in
Council'' that all foreign vessels bound for continental ports
should touch at British ports, first paying duty there before
proceeding on their way.
These edicts put American vessels "between the devil and the
deep blue sea." If they sailed for British ports or paid duty to
England, they were liable to seizure and confiscation by French
men-of-war. If they did not pay duty to England, they were
liable to seizure by British vessels.
As a measure of reprisal, Congress passed an act laying an
GEORGE MICHAEL TROUP 437
and the gallery joined the tumult. Members and spectators
rushed into each others' arms, wept, shouted, kicked over the
desks, tumbled on the floor and for a while the maddening
excitement suspended the proceedings of the day. When ex-
haustion had produced comparative silence, Daniel Duffie, a
noted Methodist preacher, exclaimed 'O Lord we thank thee.
The State is redeemed from the rule of the devil and John
Clarke.' Jesse Mercer, the oracle of the Baptists, went about
waving his hat and shouting, 'Glory ! Glory ! ! Glory ! ! ! '
Tro tip's refusal to solicit votes lost him the election in 1819.
He never solicited an appointment in his life, and his opinion
on the subject is well stated in his message to the Legislature in
1824. He said, "our political morality will never be pure as
long as offices are sought with the avidity and importunity which
now distinguish the canvass for them."
During his term as Governor, Mr. Troup was an ardent advo-
cate of internal improvements. He urged this policy both in
his messages to the Legislature and in personal interviews, as
essential to the development of the State. By authority of the
Legislature a Commission of seven members was appointed to
consider and report the most practicable plan for this end. Wil-
son Lumpkin was a member of this Commission, during whose
administration as Governor the State road was afterwards
built. J. Hamilton Couper was chairman of the commission.
The general scheme contemplated a grand canal connecting the
Tennessee River with the Mississippi, with auxiliary canals
leading from different sections of the State. Railroads were
not thought of. Mr. Couper, who had returned from a visit to
England, recommended the construction of a railroad instead of
a canal, because heavier freights could be carried over them.
Mr. Troup favored railroads in preference to canals and said,
"Mr. Couper, I will go with you in favor of railroads. But
what power do you contemplate ?" "Locomotives, of course,"
was the reply. "Good God! I can not stand that," said the
Governor. "I will go to the extent of horse power." That was
in 1826 when there were only twenty-three miles of railroad in
438 'MEN OF MARK
the world. However, a wrangle ensued between the engineers
and the political parties took it up ; the commission was abol-
ished and the system abandoned. The agitation resulted in the
building of the Western and Atlantic Railroad by the State a
few years later, the wisdom of which has never been questioned
by any one, whatever his political faith.
Governor Troup's fame rests chiefly upon the firm stand he
took in the matter of the Indian treaty. On this occasion, he
proved his unflinching courage, his uncompromising conviction
of the rights of the States and his determination that Georgia
should not be defrauded of her rights unless by superior force
of arms.
In 1802 Georgia's domain extended westward to the Missis-
sippi River. She ceded to the United States all the territory
west of the Chattahoochee River and her present line. One con-
dition of the cession was that the United States should extin-
guish the title of the Indians to the lands they still held.
The western frontier was at that time from the St. Mary's
River to Currahee Mountain. Westward of that line the
Creeks and Cherokees still held their own. A treaty was made
with the Indians at Indian Springs in 1821 by which they
agreed to abandon this territory. It was ratified by the Senate
and signed by the President and became effective as law. But
through representations made to Colonel Crowell, the Indian
Agent for the Government, who was a friend of Governor
Clarke, and a bitter enemy of Governor Troup, that the treaty
was obtained by fraud, President Adams set aside the treaty
and by his authority a new one was made, involving a change of
boundary and a loss of territory to Georgia.
The President had ordered General Gaines to the frontier to
take command of the troops stationed there for protection
against Indian raids. While protecting the frontier, General
Gaines lost no opportunity to weaken the authority of the Gov-
ernor of Georgia. A long and acrimonious correspondence fol-
lowed between the two officials until the Governor ordered the
General to communicate no more with his office. In the mean-
GEORGE MICHAEL TROUP 439
time both Gaines and Crowell were opposing the first treaty
and stirring up the Indians against it. Governor Troup de-
manded the arrest of General Gaines. He wrote to the Presi-
dent, "I have not permitted any false considerations of dignity
to interpose the least difficulty. So far from it I have cheer-
fully descended to the level of everything which it has pleased
you at any time to employ as your representative, from clerks of
your bureaus to your major-generals by brevet. When you
shall think proper to send gentlemen to represent you before this
government, they will be received and respected as officers of
the general government would be by the most friendly States of
the Union."
At this juncture the Legislature ordered a survey of the
lands as far west as the Chattahoochee and Governor Troup
issued the order to the surveyors to proceed with the work.
President Adams wrote, "If the government of Georgia should
undertake the project of surveying the lands ceded to the United
States by the Creek Indians before the expiration of the time
specified by the treaty for the removal of the Indians, it will be
wholly upon its own responsibility ; and the Government of the
United States will not, in any manner, be responsible for the
consequences which may result."
He instructed the U. S. Marshal to arrest and the U. S. Attor-
ney to prosecute any one found trespassing on Indian lands in
violation of the new treaty, and in his message to Congress he
threatened to enforce obedience by the use of the militia.
Upon receipt of this intelligence, Governor Troup ordered out
the militia with arms and rations to repel any hostile invasion
of the territory of the State. He wrote the President, "You
will understand that I feel it to be my duty to resist to the
utmost any military attack which the Government of the United
States shall think proper to make on the territory or people of
the government of Georgia, and all measures ueci— -;iry to the
performance of this duty, according to our limited means, are in
progress. From the first decisive act of hostility you will be
considered and treated as a public enemy, and with the less
440 MEN OF MARK
repugnance, bcause you to whom we might constitutionally have
appealed for our own defense against invasion, are yourselves
the invaders, and what is more, the unblushing allies of the sav-
ages whose cause you have adopted." This was regarded as
"hot talk" by the President and his friends, and carried no small
stir, as may be supposed.
By the intermediation of friends, both the President and the
Governor were induced to abstain from any overt act of hostility
until the meeting of Congress. Congress adjusted the differ-
ences by the purchase from the Indians of the lands in dispute.
The survey by the Georgia Commissioners proceeded and the
lands were disposed of by lottery. What was a savage wilder-
ness became a blooming garden.
Referring to the firm stand made by Governor Troup, Mr.
Hayne, of South Carolina, at the anniversary of the birthday of
Thomas Jefferson, said, "On a more recent occasion Georgia,
in every sense our sister, under the guidance of one of her
noblest sons, planted upon her borders the standard of States-
rights and achieved a great and glorious victory for the cause.
Neither denunciations nor threats could induce her enlightened
and patriotic Chief Magistrate to recede from the proud stand
he had taken in defense of the Constitutional rights committed
to his charge. Public opinion was rallied to his support, Lib-
erty triumphed and the Constitution was saved."
The contention of Governor Troup, which though settled in
Congress by a compromise, was really a triumph for the States-
rights people, only postponed the inevitable conflict between the
parties. Throughout the life of the republic up to the war of
secession, though parties differed in platforms, whether it was
the Indian question, or the tariff or slavery, the real issue was
the rights of the States under the Constitution, and nothing but
the arbitrament of arms could have decided it.
Mr. Troup was not popular with the masses. He was a born
aristocrat, wealthy, cultured and proud. He did not mingle
with the people. He never canvassed for office nor asked for a
vote. He was of medium stature, slender and well formed,
GEORGE MICHAEL TROUP 441
erect and military in bearing. His hair was red, his eyes deep
set and intensely blue, his nose aquiline. He had a large and
flexible mouth, which Judge Dooly said nature had formed ex-
pressly to say "Yazoo." His dress was, to say the least,
peculiar. His favorite attire was a blue coat with brass but-
tons, a buff vest and a fur cap. He would appear in midwinter
in summer outfit, and in summer with a cloak around him.
When he appeared before the Legislature to take the oath of
office, though it was a raw cold day in November, he was dressed
in a round jacket of cotton cloth, a black cassimere vest, yellow
nankeen trousers, silk hose, dancing pumps and a large white
hat. After retirement from public life, Governor Troup lived
on his plantation in Laurens county. He was a Trustee of the
University and a staunch friend to the institution all his life.
His only son and namesake was a graduate of the Class of 1835.
His later years were given to his private affairs, and though in
failing health, his hospitality knew no bounds. A visitor, if a
gentleman, was always welcome at his home. He died in April,
1856, of hemorrhage of the lungs. Few citizens have more
nobly illustrated Georgia. ^ -^ HULL
442 MEN OF MARK.
JOSEPH BRYAN, of Savannah, who represented Georgia in
the Eighth and jSHnth Congresses, serving from October 7,
1803, until he resigned in 1800, was a son of Jonathan Bryan,
one of the most famous of the Revolutionary characters in
Georgia. ~No information is at present obtainable as to the
details of his life beyond the fact that he was a man of excellent
character, fair abilities, and made a creditable representative in
Congress. He retired voluntarily from the public service and
does not appear to have again reentered it, certainly not in
prominent capacity. Xothing can be learned of his family rela-
tions, beyond the fact that one of his daughters, Georgia, mar-
ried Dr. James Proctor Screveu, builder and first president of
the Savannah, Florida and Western Railway.
HENRY G. LAMAR, who for thirty years was a prominent
figure in the public life of Georgia, belonged to that famous
Lamar family which in the last century furnished so many dis-
tinguished men to the country. He was born on July 10, 1798,
and died September 10, 1861. His father was John Lamar,
who was a Revolutionary soldier. Henry G. Lamar was a
cousin of the famous Justice L. Q. C. Lamar, and an uncle of
the late Henry J. Lamar. He married Mary Ann Davis, who
was a cousin of President Jefferson Davis.
He received an academic education, studied law, began prac-
tice in Macon, served several years in the Legislature, was
appointed a Commissioner by the Government for certain nego-
tiations with the Indians, and elected a Representative in the
Federal Congress as a States-rights Democrat, serving in the
Twenty-first and Twenty-second Congresses from 1829 to 1833.
In 1857 he was a prominent candidate in the Democratic Con-
vention which, after a hard struggle, nominated Jos. E. Brown
for Governor, and was himself the man who put Brown in
nomination. After Governor Brown's election, he appointed
Mr. Lamar an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, which
MEN OF MARK 443
position he was holding at the time of his death. His son-in-
law, the late Judge O. A. Lochrane, succeeded him on the
Supreme Bench. Mrs. Mary G. Ellis, now of Macon, is a
daughter.
Judge Lamar's contemporaries rated him as a man of good
ability, sterling integrity, a high sense of personal honor, emi-
nently patriotic, and a strong adherent of the policies of the
Democratic party. For thirty years he was one of the best
known men of Georgia, and was highly esteemed by his
contemporaries.
GEORGE CAREY was born in Charles county, Md., received a
liberal education, moved to Georgia and settled at Appling, in
Columbia county, rose to prominence in the State and was
elected representative to the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Con-
gresses, serving from 1823 to 1827. He was a man of great
attainments, highly educated, and familiar with several lan-
guages. Upon the Grecian question, which in his day was
much agitated, the Greeks then struggling with the Turks for
independence, he delivered in Congress a most notable speech.,
He removed to Upson county in 1834, and died on June 14,
1844, leaving behind him the character of a highly accomplished
and most honorable man.
HO WELL COBB, the elder, who was an uncle of Howell Cobb,
the younger, was born at Granville, 1ST. C., and moved to
Georgia, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits. He
entered the regular army of the United States as an ensign
in 1793, serving thirteen years until 1806, and retired from
the army with the rank of captain. He was elected to the
Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Congresses, serving from Octo-
ber 26, 1807, until 1812, when he resigned to accept a captain's
commission in the United States army. He served creditably
through the war with Great Britain, and after the war resigned,
returned to his plantation and there died in 1820. He is some-
444 MEN OF MARK.
times confused with his great nephew, who was only five years
old at the time of his death, and who in his day was one of the
leaders among Georgia's great men.
ZADOCK COOK was a native Georgian, born in 1769. He
was for a number of years a member of the General Assem-
bly of the State, a man of good standing and a sound legis-
lator. When in 1817 Alfred Cuthbert, a representative in
the Fourteenth Congress, resigned, Mr. Cook was elected to fill
the vacancy. He served out that term and was reelected for the
Fifteenth Congress, his full period of service lasting from Janu-
ary 23, 1817, to March 3, 1819. He was then an elderly man,
and does not appear to have desired further public office. He
had served a number of terms in the Legislature, and retired to
his plantation near Athens, where he lived for thirty years after
his retirement from Congress, his death occurring between 1855
and 1860, when he was between eighty-five and ninety years of
age. It was said of him by those who knew him that he was a
great reader, with a wonderful memory, and after once hear-
ing a chapter in the Bible he could repeat from memory every
word of it. He was a man highly esteemed by all who knew
him and for long years was one of the few connecting links
between the Revolutionary period and the mid half of the nine-
teenth centurv.
WILLIAM B. W. DENT was born in Maryland, received a com-
mon school education, studied law, admitted to the bar, and
began practicing his profession at NVvvnan, Ga. He was affil-
iated with the Democratic party and by that party was nomi-
nated and elected member of the Thirty-third Congress, serving
from December, 1853, to March, 1855. Returning to Georgia
he died at his home in ISTewnan on September 9, 1855.
MEN OF MARK 445
BOLLING HALL was born in Georgia. He had rather more
than ordinary educational advantages, receiving training in
the classics, attained some local prominence, was elected to
several offices in his county, sent to the General Assembly
of the State for several years, and elected as a representa-
tive from Georgia to the Twelfth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth
Congresses, as a war Democrat, his services extending from
1811 to 1817 and covering the period known as the "War
of 1812." He gave active and ardent support to the adminis-
tration in the struggle with Great Britain. He then retired
from politics, moved to Alabama, and engaged in planting near
Montgomery, where he died on March 25, 1836, being then only
forty-seven years old. (This statement as to his age was prob-
ably made by an authority who did not know Mr. Hall per-
sonally. He was in Congress in 1811, and must then have been
over 25 years of age.)
CHARLES E. HAYNES was born in Brunswick county, Va.,
moved to Sparta, Ga., in his youth, received a liberal educa-
tion, became prominent in public life, affiliating with the Demo-
cratic party, and was elected by that party as a representative
in the Nineteenth Congress. He was reelected to the Twen-
tieth and Twenty-first Congresses, and went down in defeat
with his party in the Twenty-second and Twenty-third Con-
gresses. In those days all the congressmen from Georgia were
elected 011 a general ticket and not by districts as at present, so
that the party ticket when defeated carried down with it each
and every candidate. Mr. Haynes was elected again to the
Twenty-fourth Congress as a Union man and reelected to the
Twenty-fifth, making altogether a ten-years service in the
National House of Representatives, commencing with 1825, and
finally retiring in 1839. Of his later life we have no
information.
446 MEN OF MARK.
JAMES JACK dicM.1 in Elbcrt county, Ga., on January 18, 1823,
at the age of eighty-four years. Captain James Jack was a
Revolutionary hero, of whose life but few particulars are
known.
He was born in Pennsylvania, removed to North Carolina,
settled in the town of Charlotte, and was an active and vigorous
participant in the Revolutionary struggle. In the spring of
1775 he was the bearer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Inde-
pendence to Congress. At the close of the Revolutionary War
he removed to Georgia and settled in Elbert county, where the
remainder of his life was spent. It is said that his expenditures
in behalf of the Revolutionary cause during that war amounted
to 7,646 pounds sterling, or about $38,000, including the pay
which naturally attached to him as an army officer. This pretty
well illustrates the devotion of Captain Jack to the service of his
country. He is known to have left one son, Patrick Jack, who
became at a later period a colonel in the military service. Wil-
liam Jack is by some authorities named as a son of Capt. James
Jack.
JABEZ JACKSON was a native Georgian, whose home was at
Clarksville. Practically no information is obtainable about
him beyond the fact that he was elected a representative to
Congress as a Union Democrat for the Twenty-fourth Congress
and reelected for the Twenty-fifth Congress, serving from 1835
to 1839.
COL. NICHOLAS LONG.— But little information can be given
as to the life of Col. Nicholas Long, a gallant soldier of both the
Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. He was probably a
native of Virginia, because when a mere youth he was serving in
the Revolutionary War as a dragoon officer, first in the Virginia
and then in the North Carolina line. After the Revolution-
ary War there was an immense emigration from Virginia and
North Carolina, especially from Virginia to Wilkes county,
MEN OF MARK 447
Ga. Colonel Long evidently canie into Wilkes county during
that movement, and in the War of 1812 he tendered his services
and was made Colonel of the Forty-third regiment, United
States infantry, especially designed for protection of the coast
of the Carolinas and Georgia. His e-xposure in that service
impaired his constitution and brought on consumption, from
which he died on August 22, 1819. He had then been a resi-
dent of Wilkes county for some thirty years. At the time of his
death he was about sixty years of age. He was a planter, sur-
veyor and real estate speculator, of good business judgment, and
made a fortune. Of his children, Margaret married Thomas
Telfair ; Sarah Rebecca married James Rembert ; Eliza married
a Dubose ; Eugenia married Lock Weems. His son, Richard
Long, after serving in the General Assembly, moved to Florida.
John, the youngest son, moved to Washington, D. C., and for
years maintained an elegant and hospitable home. Aside from
his wealth, he was an accomplished man.
DR. PETER E. LOVE, physician, lawyer, State legislator, and
congressman, was a native of Georgia, born near Dublin, July
7, 1818. He graduated from the State University, and then
studied medicine at Philadelphia. Later, preferring law, he
studied law and began the practice of the law at Thomasville,
Ga., in 1839. In 1843, after being at the bar only four years,
.he was solicitor-general of the Southern district. In 1849 he
was in the State Senate. In 1853 he was judge of his circuit.
In 1859 he was elected representative to the Thirty-sixth Con-
gress, and was serving that term when the State seceded from
the Union, and upon the passage of the Ordinance of Secession,
he, with the other Georgia members, withdrew. Dr. Love docs
not appear to have taken further part in public life, and data
as to the remainder of his life is not available.
448 MEN OF MARK.
COWLES MEAD was a native of Georgia, born in the Revolu-
tionary period, obtained a fair education for the time, studied
law, was admitted to the bar, and practiced his profession
actively. He was elected a representative from Georgia to the
Ninth Congress as a Democrat in a hard-fought struggle with
Thomas Spalding. Mr. Spalding contested the election, and
on December 25, 1805, the Congress unseated Mr. Mead and
seated Mr. Spalding. The administration evidently sympa-
thized with Mead in the controversy, for in 1SOG he was
appointed by the Federal Government the secretary to the Mis-
sissippi Territory, after which he disappears from the history
of Georgia.
JAMES MER I WETHER, member of the Nineteenth Congress,
from 1825 to 1827, was a son of Gen. David Meriwether,
one of the Revolutionary soldiers and prominent in Georgia
for forty years after the Revolution. James saw military
service as a young man and attained to the rank of major.
He was accounted a capable man and looked upon as having a
very promising political future, but after one term in Congress,
he voluntarily retired from public life, refusing to again take
any part in politics, preferring the quiet life of his plantation,
on which he spent the remainder of his days. The dates of his
birth and death are both uncertain. He served as a commis-
sioner in the making of one of the Indian treaties, was a trustee
of the University, and a useful citizen, though averse to public
life.
ALLEN F. OWEN, a native of North Carolina, moved to Tal-
botton, Ga., received an ordinary education, held several local
offices, became somewhat prominent in politics, and was elected
a representative to the Thirty-first Congress as a Whig, serv-
ing from 1849 to 1851. Later he was appointed Consul-
General to Havana. No information is available as to the
remainder of his life.
MEN OF MARK 449
GEORGE W. OWENS was a native of Georgia, born about the
first part of the last century, received a good education, studied
law, and began practice at Savannah. He won the reputation
of a good lawyer, became somewhat prominent in political life,
and was elected a representative to the Twenty-fourth and
Twenty-fifth Congresses as a Unionist, serving from 1835 to
1839. He died at Savannah, Ga., in 1856.
DENNIS SMELT. Of the subject of this sketch but little can
be learned, though he was prominent in the early days of the
State. He was said to have been a native-born Georgian, active
in the post-revolutionary period of the State, a man of strong
sense, who had received a very limited education, and when
Joseph Bryan, representative in the Ninth Congress, resigned,
in 1806, Dennis Smelt was elected to fill the vacancy, and
served out the remainder of that term. He was then reelected
to the Tenth and Eleventh Congresses, making altogether a
period of five years of service in the lower house of the
Congress. Of his future life nothing can be learned. It is
believed, however, that he was quite an elderly man at that
time, as he is said to have participated in the Revolutionary
War.
THOMAS TELFAIR was born in Savannah, Ga., probably be-
tween 1780 and 1785. Edward Telfair, his father or grand-
father, a Scotchman born, who had come to America in 1735,
had been very prominent in the Revolutionary struggle, and the
family had risen to distinguished position in the State of
Georgia. Thomas Telfair was graduated from Princeton Col-
lege in 1805, studied law, and began the practice of his pro-
fession at Savannah. Backed by his own native ability and the
prestige of the family name, he won speedy recognition, and was
elected representative from Georgia to the Thirteenth and Four-
teenth Congresses, serving from 1813 to 1817. He died at
Savannah, Ga., April 2, 1818, certainly not more than forty
29
450 MEN OF MARK.
years old, and probably six or seven years younger than that.
His premature death is believed by his contemporaries to have
cut short a career that would have been both useful and distin-
guished. He married Margaret Long, eldest daughter of Col.
Nicholas Long.
LOTT WARREN, lawyer, legislator, judge, and congressman,
was for many years one of the prominent figures in the pub-
lic life of Georgia. He was a native of the State, born in
Burke county, October 30, 1797, obtained such education as
the schools of the day afforded, studied law, and was admitted
to practice in 1821. He moved to Marion and served in the
lower house of the General Assembly in 1824, and in the
State Senate in 1830. In 1831 he was again in the lower
house, and in that year was elected a judge of the inferior court,
serving until 1834. He was elected as a Whig representative
to the Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Congresses, serving
from 1839 to 1843. Judge Warren was for many years a leader
of his party in the State, was accounted one of the foremost
lawyers of the day, and a strong man on the bench. He died
at Albany, June 17, 1861.
WYLIE THOMPSON was a native of Amelia county, Va.,
moved to Elberton, Ga., held several local offices, achieved a
certain amount of prominence in politics, was elected a rep-
resentative from Georgia to the Seventeenth Congress, reelected
to the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, Twentieth, Twenty-first and
Twenty-second Congresses as a Democrat, serving twelve years,
from 1821 to 1833. That he was able to hold this position
during all these years, at a period when the Clarke and Troup
feud was at its height, shows that he must havfe been a very
capable politician and a popular representative. /
MAR i 5 1940
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